Kenya keys in with IMF data transparency

Kenya has implemented the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund’s Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) by publishing critical data through the National Summary Data Page (NSDP).

The e-GDDS was established by the IMF in 2015 to support improved data transparency, encourage statistical development, and help create synergies between data dissemination and surveillance.

The NSDP is a national “data portal” that serves as a one-stop publication vehicle for essential macroeconomic data on the national accounts, government operations and debt, monetary and financial sector, and balance of payments.

The NSDP is hosted by Kenya’s National Bureau of Statistics, utilizing the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange. A link to Kenya’s NSDP is available on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board. The NSDP contains links to statistics published by the National Treasury and Planning, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, and the Central Bank of Kenya.

Publication of essential macroeconomic data through the NSDP will provide national policy makers and domestic and international stakeholders, including investors and rating agencies, with easy access to information critical for monitoring economic conditions and policies. Making this information easily accessible in both human and machine-readable formats will allow users to have simultaneous access to timely data and bring greater data transparency.

Louis Marc Ducharme, Chief Statistician and Data Officer, and Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, welcomed this major milestone in the country’s statistical development, saying, “I am confident that Kenya will benefit from using the e-GDDS as a framework for further development of its statistical system.”