On 28 January this year, the Republic of Macedonia accessed the highest statistical data dissemination standard of the International Monetary Fund - SDDS Plus. Today, the State Statistical Office (SSO), the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia (NBRM) and the Ministry of Finance organized a joint promotional event and shared this extremely important news with the public.
"This is a great step forward and confirmation of the quality of our statistical system. The Republic of Macedonia is the eighteenth country in the world and the second from Southeast Europe, accessing the SDDS Plus - the first among the countries of the region that are still not members of the European Union.” - said the Governor of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia, Anita Angelovska Bezhoska. In her address, she, among other things, emphasized that this successful joint project is a clear confirmation of the commitment of the three institutions for continuous upgrading of national statistics and their harmonization with the latest, highest international statistical standards.
As emphasized by the Director of the SSO, Apostol Simovski, the importance of the application of the IMF’s standards was recognized by the persons responsible for statistical surveys in our national statistical system since the beginning of the 2000s, when they jointly started to work on the fulfillment of the criteria for the first GDDS standard the Republic of Macedonia accessed in February 2004. "Only for comparison, the countries of the region - Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Kosovo are still in this standard.” - said Simovski, adding that in November 2011 the Republic of Macedonia passed to the higher SDDS - Special Data Dissemination System, which includes Slovenia, Croatia, Belgium, Greece, Hungary, the Russian Federation and others. The United States, Canada, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden and Japan are also part of the SDDS Plus that our country accessed a few days ago.
"Accessing the SDDS Plus will contribute to greater confidence and position among international financial organizations, credit rating agencies and which is especially important - among investors. For international investors and institutions, high statistical standards are crucial. If they believe in the data, it means that they believe in the state. The accession to the SDDS Plus strengthens the credibility of the government at the international level.“ - said the Minister of Finance, Dragan Tevdovski.
At the same time, the accession to that IMF standard significantly increases the capacity of the Macedonian economy for the timely identification and prevention of vulnerabilities in the financial sector, as well as potential risks in cross-sector exposures.
The fulfillment of the requirements of the SDDS Plus implies preparation of nine new categories of data, out of which seven are within the competence of the NBRM, and two are within the competence of the Ministry of Finance. Coordinator of the working party that worked on the accession to this standard was the SSO, as coordinator of the national statistical system.
After the accession to the SDDS Plus, the persons responsible for statistical surveys in the country will have to fight off more challenges. Namely, after the preparation and submission of the first five, in the next period, as part of this IMF standard, we will deliver additional four statistical indicators that refer to securities statistics, financial accounts statistics and public finance statistics. "We have a vision, we have teams of responsible professionals who work every day to achieve the goals set by the SDDS Plus, we have excellent interinstitutional cooperation... All this, which is also necessary to build and develop modern and quality statistics, guarantees us that we will succeed to the end."- was said at today's event.
Official press release of the IMF on the occasion of the accession of the Republic of Macedonia to the SDDS Plus