WHY ARE THE G-20 DATA GAPS INITIATIVE AND THE SDDS PLUS RELEVANT FOR FINANCIAL STABILITY ANALYSIS?

In the wake of the recent global crisis, the international community is giving an increased focus on stability of the financial system. With the increasing need for data sets to undertake this analysis, the question naturally arises as to what types of data are needed? While various data initiatives are underway, two initiatives at the forefront are: (1) the International Monetary Fund/Financial Stability Board Group of Twenty (IMF/FSB G-20) Data Gaps Initiative (DGI) which is endorsed by the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors as well as the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee and (2) the new Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) Plus, aimed particularly at economies with systemically important financial sectors. This paper explains the relevance of the DGI for financial stability analysis and the close link with the SDDS Plus.