Observance of Standards
In its observance of international best practices, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka subscribes to the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) of the International Monetary Fund, while also adhering to the standards advocated by the United Nations Statistical Office.
The GDDS encompasses four data dimensions as follows:
Data Coverage, periodicity and timeliness
These are key attributes with respect to compilation and dissemination of official statistics, and determine their relevance and usefulness. Hence, the Bank has placed high priority on continuously expanding coverage and improving periodicity and timeliness. In this regard, the Bank publishes its annual Advance Release Calendar (ARC) , which commits to fixed dates for the regular release of key official economic and financial statistics.
Quality
The quality of official statistics has a significant impact on the decisions based on those statistics. Hence, high priority is given by the Bank to continuous quality improvement. The Bank disseminates documentation on the methodology and sources used in preparing its statistics, while component details, reconciliation with related data and statistical cross checks used by the Bank are discussed in official releases of statistics to the media, towards building public confidence in the reasonableness of the Bank's statistical frameworks.
Integrity
To fulfill the purpose of providing the public with official statistics, these statistics must have the confidence of their users, which ultimately becomes a matter of confidence in the objectivity and professionalism of the agency producing the statistics. The Bank gives high priority to ensure this integrity, through transparency of its compilation and dissemination practices.
Accessibility
Providing equal and simultaneous access to all users is an essential feature of the dissemination of official statistics as a public good. The Bank ensures this by providing the public with an ARC and thereafter, simultaneously releasing statistics to all stakeholders.
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