Malawi underutilises IMF’s e-GDDS—official

Government agencies are underutilising the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS), a year after the platform went live, it has been learnt.

E-GDDS, a one-stop publication for important macroeconomic data available on the dissemination standards bulletin board for IMF, is an evolutionary system reflecting changing needs of data users from time to time.

However, since its rollout in December last year, Malawi’s economic data posted on the platform remains outdated, an indication that government agencies have taken little or no interest to use the platform.

In an interview, a government official with knowledge on the matter admitted that government agencies have not taken advantage of the platform to provide economic and financial statistics.

He said: “Ideally, 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.”

In an earlier statement, IMF said publication of essential macroeconomic data through the new the platform would provide national policymakers and a range of domestic and international stakeholders with easy access to information that the IMF’s executive board has identified as critical for monitoring economic conditions and policies.

E-GDDS was established to enhance data transparency, encourage statistical capacity development and create synergies between data dissemination and surveillance.

It replaced general data dissemination system of 2007.