A mission of the International Monetary Fund’s Statistics Department visited Belgrade during April 11 – April 17, 2018, to assist the Republic of Serbia with the implementation of the Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e GDDS), which was endorsed by the IMF’s Executive Board in May 2015.

The mission supported the development of the National Summary Data Page (NSDP), which will be posted on the website of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, in coordination with the National Bank of Serbia and the Ministry of Finance. The page utilizes the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) and aims to serve as a one-stop publication vehicle for key macroeconomic and financial data.

Publication of these data through the new NSDP will provide national policy makers, 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 will allow all users to have simultaneous access to timely data and will bring greater data transparency.

The authorities are encouraged by the progress made to achieve this important milestone in its quest for a more orderly publication of statistics. The NSDP will give users access to full information about the Republic of Serbia’s e-GDDS data categories by June 8, 2018.

Background

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 The e-GDDS superseded the GDDS, which was established in 1997. A link to the country’s NSDP will be available on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) by June 8, 2018: at http://dsbb.imf.org.