iGA, International Monetary Fund discuss launch of Bahrain’s National Summary Data Page

Manama, In preparation for the launch of the National Summary Data Page (NSDP) this month Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, Chief Executive of the Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA), received a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during their official visit to Bahrain on September 1-5. The visit will include focused technical meetings with various government entities responsible for measuring and reporting Bahrain's financial, economic, and demographic data. In attendance were Duaa Sultan, iGA Deputy Chief Executive of Statistics and Population Registry, Dana Imad Hamzah, Assistant Undersecretary for Sustainable Development at the Ministry of Sustainable Development, several directors and officials from iGA's Statistics and Population Registry departments, and representatives from the Ministry of Finance and National Economy. Al Qaed highlighted the importance of launching the NSDP for Bahrain, emphasising the Kingdom's adherence to the IMF's Enhanced General Data Dissemination System ( e-GDDS) standards. This initiative underscores Bahrain's commitment to transparency by providing detailed information, indicators, and statistical data on national accounts, interest rates, government operations, and economic and banking sector indicators, enhancing accessibility of data for international organizations and investors through the NSDP page. In parallel with the IMF delegation's visit, iGA will hold two-days of focused meetings for the statistics teams from the Population and Demographic Statistics as well as a team from Economic Statistics Directorate tasked with updating the Kingdom's NSDP. The meetings will train data administrators on calculating, reporting, and publishing indicators according to IMF standards, utilizing the latest data exchange technologies such as the Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX) system. It will also address performing annual and quarterly updates aimed at elevating Bahrain's tiers in the IMF's data standards. Source: Bahrain News Agency