Oscarline Onwuemenyi
03 March 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, have unveiled the Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) aimed at attracting more Foreign Direct Investments, FDIs,into Nigeria.
The Statistician-General of Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, who unveiled the electronic platform on in Abuja, said the e-GDDS initiative followed the launch in the 1990s, the data standards initiatives by the IMF, with the aim of enhancing member countries’ data transparency and promoting development of sound statistical systems.
Kale noted that Nigeria is the first country in the Sub-Saharan Africa to satisfy the e-GDDS requirements and subsequently launch its operations in real time, adding that four key agencies including the Central Bank of Nigeria, Office of the Accountant- General of Federation and federal Ministry of Finance are working together for the implementation of the initiative, with NBS as coordinator.
According to him, the initiative will help to improve the dissemination of data both within Nigeria and across the globe, stressing that such access to reliable data will encourage investors in investment decision making in the country.
He said the e-GDDS designed to provide key macroeconomics statistical information covering 15 data categories along with their respective metadata.
These, he listed to include National Accounts, GDP, Consumer Price Index (CPI), General Government Operations, Central Government Operations, Central Government Gross Debt, Depository Corporations Survey, Central Bank Survey, Interest Rates, Stock Markets, Balance of Payment, External Debt, Official Reserves Assets, Merchandise Trade, International Investment Position (IPP) and Exchange Rates.
The NBS boss said that each of the agencies is expected to upload its datasets in an open data platform which is to be linked to the National Summery Data Page (NSDP) which is a one-stopshop for essential macroeconomic and financial data within the context of e-GDDS.
Giving a background to the e- GDDS platform, Kale said, “This was informed by the need for data standards as highlighted by the financial crises of the mid-1990s, in which information deficiencies were seen to play a role, under the data standards initiatives , the IMF established the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) in 1996 to provide guidance to countries that have or seek access to capital markets to disseminate key data so that users in general, and financial market participants in particular, have adequate information to assess the economic situations of individual countries.
“The SDDS not only prescribes that subscribers disseminate certain data categories, but also prescribes that subscribers disseminate the relevant metadata to promote public knowledge and understanding of their compilation practices with respect to the required data categories.
“Under these initiatives, the IMF 1997 introduced the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) in order to provide a framework for countries that aim to develop their statistical systems, within which they can work towards disseminating comprehensive and reliable data with a view to eventually meeting the SDDS requirements,” Kale added.
