Transcript The Inter-Agency Group on Economic and Financial Statistics (IAG) and the G-20 Data Gaps Initiative

The Inter-Agency Group on Economic
and Financial Statistics (IAG) and the
G-20 Data Gaps Initiative
Alfredo M. Leone
Deputy Director, Statistics Department
Side Event at the
43st session of the United Nations Statistical Commission
New York, February 29, 2012
The views expressed herein are those of the author and should not be
attributed to the IMF, its Executive Board, or its management
Background: The Ongoing Global Crisis
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The main manifestations of the global crisis which
surfaced in 2008 were:
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Concentrated mainly in industrialized, and a large
number of emerging economies;
Severe in terms of lost output and high unemployment;
Propagating worldwide at a high speed;
Involving systemically important global financial
institutions (G-SIFIs), with operations spreading across
many markets worldwide, as well as shadow banks.
Today, we still observe significant turmoil,
particularly in Europe, a battered international
financial system, and an ailing recovery.
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Data Dimensions
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The crisis:
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Highlighted the critical importance of timely, consistent,
and comparable across countries statistics.
Revealed additional statistical needs for proper financial
stability analysis and policy decision making:
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Identifying leverage and risk-taking
Understanding interconnectedness:
 Across sectors within an economy
 Cross borders
 Among G-SIFIs and shadow banks
Identified room for improvement in the communication
of official statistics.
Today, the G-20 Data Gaps Initiative is well underway
to address gaps and reinforce the national and global
statistical systems, aiming at a global financing
reporting system that will comprehensively monitor
global financial flows and stocks
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International Collaboration
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IMF
The initiative involves a great
deal of collaboration among
international institutions:
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FSB
IAG: BIS, ECB,
Eurostat, IMF
(chair), OECD,
UN, World
Bank
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Work is coordinated by the
Inter-Agency Group on
Economic and Financial
Statistics (IAG)
Reporting to the G-20 Finance
Ministers and Central Bank
Governors is made by the IMF
and the FSB
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Consultation Process with the G-20
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IMF/FSB G-20 Senior Officials Conferences:
 July 2009 and March 2011, Washington, D.C., USA
 April 2010, and late June 2012 (planned) Basel,
Switzerland.
IMF staff conducted bilateral consultation with
G-20 economies (2010/2011).
Four regional conferences planned:
 Mexico City, Mexico (March 2012);
 Paris, France (April 2012);
 Ankara, Turkey (April 2012); and
 China (April 2012).
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Communication Process
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UNSC Side Events: 2009-2012
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http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/statcom_2011/Seminars/Int
er_Agency_Group/default.html
IMF Statistics Department Seminars at
IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings (2010 and
2011)
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Financial Stability, the Data Challenge:
http://www.imf.org/external/am/mmedia/view.aspx?vid=632822
639001
Casting Light on Shadow Banking, Data Needs for
Financial Stability:
http://www.imf.org/external/am/2011/mmedia/view.a
spx?vid=1178595839001
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Communication Process (cont)
Principal Global Indicators
 A product of the Inter-Agency Group (IAG)
 Brings together data for G-20 economies and five non
G-20 economies members of the FSB
 One-stop shop
 http://www.principalglobalindicators.org/default
.aspx
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Brief Chronology
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Establishment of the Inter-Agency Group on Economic
and Financial Statistics, IAG (2008)
 BIS, ECB, Eurostat, IMF (Chair), OECD, UN, WB
 Coordinate work to explore data gaps and strengthen data
collection
 Established Principal Global Indicators (PGI) Website:
http://www.principalglobalindicators.org/default.aspx
G-20 request to the IMF and the Financial Stability Board
(FSB) to explore gaps and provide proposals to address them
to the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.
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Reports provided in November 2009, June 2010, and June 2011.
Data gaps identified and work plans and timetables endorsed by the
G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.
Work is progressing and next progress report to the G-20 is expected
in September 2012.
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Brief Chronology (cont)
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IMFC (IMF Governing Body) welcomed and endorsed
the work of the IMF and FSB to provide better
indicators of systemic risks and address data gaps
(April 2009, October 2010, and September 2011)
IMF Executive Board approved enhancements to the
IMF Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS),
including the establishment of a higher tier, the SDDS
plus.
The Global Issues Group (GIG) of the World Economic
Forum, comprising of leaders of the world’s
multilateral and regional institutions, supports the
efforts underway as part of the G20 Data Gaps
Initiative to create a global financing reporting system
that will comprehensively monitor global financial
flows and stocks
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DATA GAPS
There Exist Conceptual/
Statistical Frameworks
and Ongoing Collection
Build-up of Risk
in the Financial
Sector
# 2 Financial Soundness
Indicators (FSIs)
#5 Credit Default Swaps
#7 Securities
Cross-border
Financial
Linkages
# 10, #11, #12 Coordinated
Portfolio Investment Survey,
International Banking
Statistics, International
Investment Positions
Vulnerability of
Domestic
Economies to
Shocks
#15 Institutional Sector
Accounts
# 17 Government Finance
Statistics
# 18 Public Sector Debt
#19 Real Estate Prices
Improving
#20 Principal Global
Conceptual Statistical
Framework Needs Further
Development
# 3 Tail Risk in the Financial
System
#4 Aggregate Leverage and
Maturity Mismatches;
#6 Structured Products
#8 and # 9 Global Network
Connections and Systemically
Important Global Institutions
# 13 and #14 Financial and
Nonfinancial Corporations’ Cross
Border Exposures
#16 Distributional Information
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Emerging Views from the Consultations
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Broad agreement on the identified data gaps that
need to be addressed
Recognition that enhancements to existing datasets
could address certain gaps in the near future
Other gaps would take longer and require additional
resources
The inter-agency coordination is very much
welcome. IAG and PGI seen as major steps forward,
but it needs to be intensified, including by:
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Reducing reporting burden to countries
Developing common templates to facilitate common sourcing of
data
Improving data sharing across international institutions
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Concluding Remarks
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Considerable progress is being made in addressing data
gaps, with individual IAG agencies allocated to lead specific
recommendations and G-20 countries implementing enhancements
Already the outcomes of these efforts are yielding results, with
improvements in available data on credit default swaps, securities,
CPIS, IIP, sectoral accounts, government finance statistics, public
debt, real estate prices, and in the communication of statistics
(PGI)
Data Dissemination Standards (GDDS and SDDS) have been
strengthened
But challenges remain ahead, including the need to
sustain:
 Implementation of plans and timetables
 Further progress in the development of new data frameworks
 Adequate resources for statistical work
 Coordination and collaboration—not only among IAG agencies,
but also with and within national statistical agencies
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