Austria has subscribed to the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) since its introduction in 1996. Aside from the obligatory description of selected economic indicators (in the form of metadata), the SDDS requires the timely publication of data on a special web page (the National Summary Data Page).
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) established the SDDS with the aim of publishing key economic statistical data and thus creating maximum transparency in terms of the definition, coverage, periodicity and timeliness of these data at the international level. Austria’s participation in the SDDS obligates various institutions such as Statistics Austria, the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), the Association of Austrian Social Security Institutions, the Austrian Public Employment Office (AMS), the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance, Wiener Börse AG, the Austrian Federal Financing Agency and the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) to compile certain indicators as specified by the IMF. Explanatory notes, the so-called metadata, describe these individual indicators. The OeNB is responsible for updating the current data, which are available on the National Summary Data Page. An Advance Release Calendar covering the upcoming four months specifies which statistics will be available and when these statistics will be released. The SDDS also prescribes the publication of detailed monthly data on Austria’s assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currency. The Data Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity contains both the OeNB’s and the government’s foreign currency positions. Furthermore, the publication of Austria’s external debt or External Debt Data is mandatory. In general, it is an economy’s liabilities that are published on a quarterly basis; Austria, however, also provides data on assets.
The IMF regularly monitors observance of the SDDS. The results of the evaluation are published quarterly in a summary report of all subscribing countries (Quarterly Update on the Special Data Dissemination Standard). In addition, the IMF monitors observance for each subscribing country since 2006 and posts the results on the Internet (Annual Observance Reports). Austria’s up-to-date Annual Observance Report 2011 (200 KB) is available on the IMF’s website as well.
Links on SDDS
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