Press Release No. 18/494

The Bahamas Implements the International Monetary Fund’s Enhanced General Data Dissemination System

December 21, 2018

The Bahamas has implemented the recommendations of the IMF’s Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) by publishing critical data through the National Summary Data Page (NSDP). The page aims to serve as a one-stop publication vehicle for essential macroeconomic data on national accounts, government operations and debt, monetary and financial sector, and the balance of payments. These data will be disseminated in both human and machine-readable formats. The e-GDDS was established by the IMF’s Executive Board in May 2015 to support improved data transparency, encourage statistical development, and help create synergies between data dissemination and surveillance.

The NSDP is posted on the Central Bank of the Bahamas’ website, utilizing the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX), and is accessible on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board. The NSDP page contains links to statistics published by official data producers, namely the Central Bank of The Bahamas, the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Statistics.

Publication of essential macroeconomic data through the NSDP will provide national policy makers and domestic and international stakeholders, including investors and rating agencies, with easy access to information that the IMF’s Executive Board has identified as critical for monitoring economic conditions and policies. Making this information easily accessible in both human and machine-readable formats will allow all users to have simultaneous access to timely data and will bring greater data transparency.

To mark this major milestone in the Bahamas’ statistical development, Mr. John A. Rolle, Governor of Central Bank of The Bahamas noted “The Central Bank is pleased to announce that it has launched the Bahamas’ official e-GDDS portal. This website, which represents the result of a collaboration between various agencies, allows members of the public to obtain key reports and data on the economy from one location, thereby improving data transparency and governance. We thank the IMF for their assistance with this initiative and look forward to their continued cooperation.”

Louis Marc Ducharme, Chief Statistician and Data Officer, and Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, welcomed this major milestone in the country’s statistical development. “I congratulate the authorities of the Bahamas for the launch of the NSDP, an important step forward in data dissemination. I am confident that the Bahamas will benefit from using the e-GDDS as a framework for further development of its statistical system.”