Molly Molloy New Mexico State University Library Las Cruces, NM 88003
505-646-6931 mmolloy@lib.nmsu.edu http://lib.nmsu.edu/staff/mmolloy
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Date: Tue, 20 May 97 08:14:11
From: DAVID STEINBERG <DAVID_STEINBERG@ccigate.acdi-cida.gc.ca>
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Subject: Data from IMF for info
May 12, 1997
133 Hyperlinks Established Between DSBB and National Data
On April 24, the IMF announced that users accessing the IMF's
Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) on the Internet could move
directly to certain national sites to access key economic and financial
data. The first electronic links (or hyperlinks) to such Internet sites
were established on April 25. Data users can now move quickly between the
bulletin board, which describes the statistical practices of country
subscribers to the IMF's Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS), and
the actual data for six country subscribers. Hyperlinks to national data
sites have been estab-lished for the following subscribers: Canada
Mexico Singapore South Africa Switzerland United Kingdom-Hong Kong
Hyperlinks to national data sites for Finland, Israel, Japan, and Turkey
are expected shortly. Hyperlinks to more subscribers' data will follow.
To Access Data The six subscribers whose national data are hyper-linked to
the IMF's DSBB have developed a summary page on the Internet that shows
data (for example, GDP growth rates, prices, money, and international
reserves) that correspond with the descriptions of their data and data
dissemination practices posted on the IMF's DSBB. Data users can access the
DSBB at the Internet address http://dsbb.imf.org. They can move from the
DSBB to national summary data pages by clicking on "New Access to
[subscriber's] data" wher-ever it appears. Furthermore, from many of these
national summary data pages users can move to more detailed data using
hyperlinks that the subscriber pro-vides. Users may also move in the other
direction, from national pages to the IMF's DSBB.
Background In April 1995, the IMF's Interim Committee request-ed a set of
standards to guide IMF members in provid-ing to the public comprehensive,
timely, accessible, and reliable economic and financial statistics. A
similar request was made to the IMF in June 1995 by the Group of Seven
Heads of State at their Summit in Halifax. (The SDDS was established in
April 1996; see IMF Survey, May 20, 1996, page 165). The SDDS is targeted
at coun-tries having or seeking access to interna-tional capital markets.
Countries that vol-untarily sign up for the SDDS undertake to make the
necessary changes to statistical practices to meet the data coverage,
period-icity, and timeliness requirements of the SDDS during a transition
period (which ends December 31, 1998) and to follow good practices with
respect to public access to the data covered by the standard and to the
integrity of the data and its quality. They also undertake to provide
information about their data dissemination practices for posting on the
IMF's DSBB. As of April 25, there were 42 subscriptions to the SDDS. The
information posted on the DSBB is known as "metadata." In addition to
describing SDDS subscribers' data dissemination practices, the DSBB
describes steps subscribers are undertaking to improve practices to move
toward full observance of the SDDS by the end of the transition period. As
of April 25, the metadata for 29 subscribers were available on the IMF's
bulletin board.DSBB