Responding to the Financial Crisis:Recent Developments and New Statistical

Initiatives

ESDS Annual International Conference

London, 30 November 2009

Nick Dopuch

Agenda

• Overview of existing IMF statistical products

• Recent influences on IMF statistical developments

• New statistical initiatives• Future of IMF electronic data

dissemination

Traditional IMF Statistical Products

• International Financial Statistics (IFS)– Flagship publication of IMF Statistics

Department– Comprehensive source of financial data– Multiple economic sectors

• Monetary and Financial Statistics• Balance of Payments• Real Sector• Government Finance• Other (exchange rates, population, etc…)

Traditional IMF Statistical Products

– Includes data for 190 countries and several economic unions

• Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook (BOPSY)– Country transactions (flows) with rest of

world– International Investment Position (stocks)

• Now included in BOPSY part 2

• Direction of Trade Statistics – Value of exports & imports between a

country & its trading partner

Influences on Statistical Priorities

Recent world financial developments

Subscriber feedback

Mission of IMF“The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitates the balanced growth of international trade, and provides resources to help members in balance of payments difficulties or to assist with poverty reduction.” Statistical

Priorities

Influences on Statistical Priorities

• Priorities in light of recent financial crisis– Introduction of new data sets

• Streamline print publications– Discontinued Government Finance Statistics

Yearbook (print version)– Moved GFS data to IFS– Merger of IFS Supplement with main IFS– Online emphasis for new statistical initiatives

New Initiatives

• Principal Global Indicators– Produced in response to financial crisis

• Inter-agency group on Economic and Financial Statistics established

• Endorsed by IMF’s International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC)

– Purpose• Facilitate the monitoring of economic and financial

developments for systemically important economies of G-20 (important IMF stakeholder)

• Improve data in financial and related statistics

New Initiatives

• Principal Global Indicators (continued)

– Primary content• Tables of statistics• Links to relevant sites

– Constituent agencies of inter-agency group

– National websites

– “Identify Data Gaps” – G-20 Working Group on Reinforcing International Co-operation and Promoting Integrity in Financial Markets

New Initiatives

• Principal Global Indicators (continued)

– User Conference (July 2009) – identify priorities for filling gaps

• Financial sector• Balance sheet of non-financial sector• House prices• Risk transfer instruments• Report

– Available online and free!

New Initiatives

• Financial Soundness Indicators– Indicators of the health of entire sector of

financial institutions, but also of the counterpart corporate and household sectors, and of relevant markets

• 12 core indicators• 28 encourage indicators

– Participation: 64 countries– Frequency: left to discretion of country– Available online and free!

New Initiatives

• High-Frequency Government Finance Statistics– Included in IFS data set– Consistent with

Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 (GFSM2001)

– Frequencies: Annual, quarterly and some monthly

– Country coverage is gradually expanding– Expanded conceptual framework

• Government revenues by source (taxes, grants, etc…)

• Government expenditures by type

New Initiatives

• High-Frequency Government Finance Statistics (continued)

– Expanded conceptual coverage (continued)

• Acquisition of assets– By instrument (deposits, loans, equity, etc…)– By debtor type (foreign, domestic, etc..)

• Incurrence of liabilities– By instrument– By creditor

• Balance sheet

New Initiatives

• Coordinated Direct Investment Survey (CDIS)– Measure of the stock of foreign direct

investment (FDI) by source (counterpart economy)

– 130 FDI investing or receiving economies expressed interest in participating

– Measurement date: end-2009

Future of IMF Electronic Data Dissemination

• Foundations of IMF data dissemination strategy– Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) -

initiative to foster standards for exchange of statistical data

• Recognized by International Organization for Standardizations

• Goal of dual use– Collection– Dissemination

– Economic Data Dissemination (EDD) Project Information technology capital project with purpose of replacing current online tool – http://www.imfstatistics.org

• Web-based & interactive• Supportive of diverse user community

Future of IMF Electronic Data Dissemination

• Features of EDD application– Keyword searches– Content browsing– Personal customization

• Personal queries• Data subscriptions• Data alerts

– Social features• Forums and blogs

Future of IMF Electronic Data Dissemination

• Features of EDD application (continued)

– Data visualization• Tables• Charts• Maps• Composites

– Include other IMF data sets (not produced by Statistics Department) such as World Economic Outlook

Questions?