Special Data Dissemination Standard

In a world of increasing economic and financial integration, the necessity to provide the public with the comprehensive, timely, reliable and comparable economic and financial statistics is growing rapidly. Therefore, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved in April, 1996, the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). The purpose of the SDDS is to guide IMF members in the provision to the public of economic and financial statistics. Timely publication of comprehensive statistical data is essential to the transparency of macroeconomic performance and policy.

IMF member states subscribed to the SDDS provide wide information about their statistical and data dissemination practices (so-called "metadata") prescribed under the SDDS. The metadata prepared by the member states are posted on the electronic Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) established and maintained by the IMF.

Lithuania subscribed to the SDDS by the end of May, 1996, seeking to become more open to the international financial markets and to cause to take interest to the country's economy more foreign investors. Metadata for Lithuania are posted on the DSBB. Data categories prescribed by the SDDS at the Bank of Lithuania's disposal, as well as the advance release calendar for those data categories and the list of contact persons, are published in the LB "Monthly Bulletin".

Contact persons and data categories:

Mr. Gintaras Daugela, Statistics Department, tel: 370 5 2680117, fax: 370 5 2680144, gdaugela@lb.lt	Monetary survey, Balance sheet of LB
Mr. Sigitas Siaudinis, Market Operations Department, tel: 370 5 2680621, fax: 370 5 2680134, ssiaudinis@lb.lt	Interest rates on Government securities, Official foreign exchange rates
Mrs. Jurgita Maslauskaite, Statistics Department, tel: 370 5 2680422, fax: 370 5 2680428, jmaslauskaite@lb.lt	Deposit, loan, and interbank interest rates
Mr. Raimundas Barzdzius, Statistics Department, tel: 370 5 2680402, fax: 370 5 2680426, rbarzdzius@lb.lt	Balance of payments, International investment position
Mrs. Daiva Milaseviciene, Statistics Department, tel: 370 5 2680413, fax: 370 5 2680426, dmilaseviciene@lb.lt	International reserves and foreign currency liquidity
Ms. Ruta Baceviciute, Statistics Department, tel: 370 5 2680124, fax: 370 5 2680416, rbaceviciute@lb.lt	External debt
Mrs. Ausra Buiviene, Statistics Department, tel: 370 5 2680420, fax: 370 5 2680428, abuiviene@lb.lt	Coordination of application of the SDDS in Lithuania; Maintenance of the Advance Release Calendar; Monitoring of the National Summary Data Page updates
Ms. Ilona Degesyte, Statistics Department, tel: 370 5 2680128, fax: 370 5 2680428, idegesyte@lb.lt	Maintenance of the Advance Release Calendar; Monitoring of the National Summary Data Page updates

The Bank of Lithuania, following the requirements of the SDDS, redisseminates on its Internet site the daily share price indices calculated and disseminated by the NASDAQ OMX Vilnius Stock Exchange.

Following the SDDS requirements, the National Summary Data Page (NSDP) "Economic and Financial Data for Lithuania" has been established. This page which is updated on the day that data are released, along with the NSDPs of other subscribing countries, has been hyperlinked to the DSBB. The Advance Release Calendars for Lithuania and the other subscribing countries are also downloaded on the DSBB.

Lithuania's international reserves data based on the Data Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity are disseminated within one week after the end of the reference month. These data presented in the standard format approved by the IMF have also been hyperlinked to the DSBB.

The DSBB has also been hyperlinked to the subscribing countries’ data on International Investment Position and External Debt.