By Kebba Jeffang
The National Summary Data Page (NSDP), is set to implement the recommendations of the Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) that will ensure data transparency and statistical development in The Gambia.
The NSDP is a national data portal that serves as a one-stop vehicle for publishing essential macroeconomic data in both human and machine-readable formats. It is hosted by the Gambia Bureau of Statistics on its website and also available on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board.
Sanna Manjang, Senior Statistician at the Gambia Bureau of Statistics, said the implementation of the e-GDDS will facilitate efforts to improve data dissemination.
According to the GBOS statement, publication of essential macroeconomic data through the NSDP will provide national policy makers and a broad range of domestic and international stakeholders, including investors and rating agencies, easy access to information. The IMF’s Executive Board described it as critical for monitoring economic conditions and policies.
“Making this information simultaneously available to all users will bring greater data transparency,” the release stated.
Louis Marc Ducharme, Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, welcomed the development in the country’s statistical annals.
“I congratulate the authorities of The Gambia for the launch of the NSDP, an important step forward in data dissemination. I am confident that The Gambia will benefit from using the e-GDDS as a framework for further development of its statistical system,” he said.
The Gambia also benefitted from a project on the Improvement of Data Dissemination in Africa financed by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.
The e-GDDS was endorsed 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 supersedes the GDDS, established in 1997. A link to the country’s NSDP is available on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) at: https://dsbb.imf.org.
