Compliance in Progress Summary
Luxembourg became a subscriber to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) on May 12, 2006 and met all SDDS requirement at the time of subscription. The IMF's SDDS website discloses that Luxembourg meets SDDS requirements for periodicity, coverage, and timeliness of data, although it does employ the timeliness flexibility option for national accounts and analytical accounts of the central bank. Luxembourg fulfills SDDS requirements for advance-release calendars and for the simultaneous release of data to all interested parties, where required. Information on the IMF's SDDS website also shows that Luxembourg meets most SDDS requirements for integrity of data. It does not, however, clearly state the means whereby confidentiality of individually identifiable information is achieved for a few data categories, and there is no clear identification of ministerial commentary or internal government access for exchange rates. With regard to the quality of data, the IMF's SDDS website indicates that Luxembourg does not provide the requisite information on component detail and cross-checks for certain data categories, specifically, general government (public sector operations), and interest rates. Summary methodologies are available for all datasets.
General Overview
According to the website of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), Luxembourg subscribed to the IMF's SDDS on May 12, 2006. The SDDS website discloses that the principle agencies responsible for the collection, compilation, and publication of official statistics include the Service for Statistics and Economic Studies (STATEC), the Ministry of Finance (MoF), and the Central Bank of Luxembourg (BCL). According to the STATEC website, the agency was created by provisions of the Law of July 9, 1962 (amended in 1967 and 1971), which lays out the mission of the STATEC, its organization, its terms of reference, and the roles and responsibilities of its staff. Article 7 of the law stipulates that individuals, companies, and the public administration are required to provide STATEC-requested statistical data, and establishes fines for the refusal to do so. The Article also guarantees confidentiality of data, again establishing sanctions for violation, including disciplinary or criminal actions. STATEC is a financially independent unit of the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade. Its independence is set forth officially in Article 285 of the Treaty of Amsterdam. STATEC follows the statistical programs of the broader European community, as well as meeting national requirements. It complies with the European Statistics Code of Practice, which was adopted by Luxembourg on February 24, 2005.
Annex II of the 2009 IMF Article IV Consultations report on Luxembourg notes that the country's data provision regime is adequate for surveillance. The report identifies STATEC as a regular publisher of the full range of economic and financial data, and notes that STATEC provides public access to advance release calendars on its website covering the main statistical releases. The 2009 report adds that all users may access STATEC's databases, as well as the databases of other jurisdictions via a central online cite called the Statistics Portal of Luxembourg. Data release is simultaneous to all users. Other agencies with websites containing macroeconomic data and analyses include the Central Bank of Luxembourg and the Ministry of Finance. The Statistical Issues Annex to the 2009 report also notes that "Luxembourg avails itself of the SDDS special flexibility option for the timeliness of the national accounts, and generally disseminates national accounts data not later than four months after the reference period," (Annex II, p. 4), noting that surveillance would be aided if this reporting lag could be reduced. Finally, the report observes that there is as yet no IMF’s data module of the Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes for Luxembourg.
The Principles
FCComprehensive economic and financial data, disseminated on a timely basis.
The IMF's Annual Report on Observance of the SDDS by Luxembourg during 2008, available on the IMF SDDS website, notes that Luxembourg became an SDDS subscriber on May 12, 2006, at which time it met all SDDS requirements. With regard to its performance during 2008, Luxembourg took no flexibility options for coverage or periodicity, whereas it did take timeliness flexibility options for national accounts and the analytical accounts of the central bank. In addition, it met most coverage, periodicity, and timeliness requirements, even exceeding the periodicity requirement for its employment and unemployment data. It met or exceeded timeliness requirements in most cases as well, falling short only in four data categories. For central government operations and merchandise trades, there were short delays. The analytical accounts of the banking sector experienced occasional short delays, and the reserves template experienced a long delay. All coverage, periodicity, and timeliness requirements for external debt data were met, and this was also the case for most reserves template data. However, Luxembourg did experience a delay regarding the reserves template data category in the month of April.
CPReady and equal access to official statistics.
The IMF's 2008 Annual Observance Report for Luxembourg found that the country met all advance-release calendar requirements during that year, and met the punctuality requirement for most requisite data categories, with five exceptions. These include short delays in the issuance of production index, producer price, and general government or public sector operations; occasional short delays in the release of analytical accounts of the banking sector; and a long delay in issuing reserves template data. Specifically, Luxembourg posts advance-release dates on the SDDS website for every dataset except the following: general government or public sector operations, general government debt, interest rates and the share price index, exchange rates, the internal investment position, and population data. In the case of certain central bank data, the BCL website does not offer advance-release calendars, but such calendars appear on the STATEC website. Simultaneous release of data is achieved in all relevant datasets.
CPOfficial statistics must have the confidence of their users. Transparency of its practices and procedures is a key factor.
According to information provided on the IMF's SDDS website, the terms and conditions for the dissemination of information are clearly stated for all data categories. In addition, internal government access to data before its release, and when such access occurs, is identified. Ministerial commentary generally does not accompany released data, but there is no information in this regard for exchange-rate data. Confidentiality is generally assured by the law governing STATEC, but in some cases – notably, central government debt, exchange rate, balance of payments, and the share-price index, there is no specific information regarding confidentiality. Revision information is provided, but notice as to major methodological changes is generally provided only with the affected data, rather than in advance.
CPA set of standards that deals with the coverage, periodicity and timeliness of data must also address the quality of statistics.
The IMF's SDDS website discloses that Luxembourg provides summary methodologies for all required datasets, in addition to the fact that documents related to methodology and sources used in preparing most statistics are available to the public, where relevant. An exception to this practice is central government debt data, for which a manual on methodology has yet been published. In terms of the SDDS' requirement on "dissemination of component detail, reconciliation with related data and statistical frameworks that support statistical cross-checks," the SDDS website indicates that in Luxembourg for analytical accounts of the central bank, only "many" of the data can be cross-checked, and no information is offered in regards to data relating to general government or public sector operations, the SDDS website adds.
