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26 Feb 2006

Workshop on The General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) and Government Finance Statistics (GFS2001)

The Secretariat General of the Planning Council in cooperation with the Qatari Ministry of Finance and GCC Secretariat General and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are organizing a workshop on The General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) and Government Finance Statistics (GFS)in Doha during the period 2 - 6 April 2006.

The workshop aims to:

	Inform the participants from GCC Ministries of Finance, Central Banks and Statistics Departments about (GFS2001), in order to be implemented in GCC countries.
	Exchange of experience among GCC countries in treatment of oil and gas revenue in (GFS2001).
	Presentation of examples from all GCC countries about coverage and sectorization in the public sector.
	Inform the participants about (GDDS) for statistical development.
	Inform the participants about the (GFS2001) analytical frame work and financial indicators.

The (IMF) delegation will include a senior staff member, two staff economists and an expert; one of the economists will stay in Doha during the week following the seminar to assist the Qatari Ministry of Finance in improving compilation of (GFS) and provide them with training. The Secretariat General of the Planning Council extended invitations to GCC Secretariat General to attend the workshop and coordination in extending invitations to GCC Ministries of Finance, Central Banks and Statistics Departments to nominate their candidates to the workshop. Alongside with the workshop, an executive conference for senior officials of GCC Ministries of Finance and Central Banks will be convened on 5 and 6 April with IMF delegation to discuss Challenges and Strategies for developing Government Finance Statistics in the GCC and future cooperation between IMF and GCC countries.

The Presentations that presented during the Workshop*:

1-   Coverage of Units in Public Sector
2-   Revenue
3-   Expense
4-   Functional classification of Outlays
5-   Data source, preparation and Derivation
6-   Consolidation
7-   GFSM 2001and other Statistical System
8-   Guidelines for Responding to the GFS Yearbook Questionnaire
9-   The GFSM 2001 System- An Overview
10- Overview of changes from GFSM 1986 to GFSM 2001, and Migration Paths to GFSM 2001
11- Conversion of GFSM 1986 GFSM 2001 Presentation
12- Overview of GFSM 2001 Classification System
13- The Balance sheet
14- Transaction and other Economic Flows in Assets and Liabilities
15- Implementation of GFSM 2001 System- Migration Paths and Experiences

* Presentations are available in PDF format

The participants have agreed on the following:

The importance of the implementation of the GFS2001 for the following reasons:

	To cover the local needs for more detailed GFS which help decision makers to prepare future plans for the state including drawing policies on health, education, etc.
	To organize the operation of GFS through the agencies responsible for them and help them to develop their own statistical work relating to this field.

The participants agreed on the importance of holding more training courses in the field of GFS 2001 in the near future. This is with a view to help develop this important statistics.

In view of the importance of linking between the statistics of macro economical accounts (Government Finance, balance of Payment V1 and national Accounts 1993), the participants recommend that specialized seminars should be held how these three systems link to each other are. These seminars should be organized in cooperation with relative national bodies concerned with preparing these statistics, the general secretariat of the GCC and international bodies which produce these systems in order to facilitate the work of statisticians.

GCC countries to contact EUROSTAT to benefit from its pioneering experience in the field of unifying GFS2001 systems and to understand what problems it has encountered.

The participants see the importance of implementing GFS2001 because of their importance for the monetary union for Gulf countries. This is due to the fact that Public Expenditure is a major driver in Arab GCC countries.

To hold field visits to a country which has implemented this system comprehensively to see the steps and mechanisms followed to reach the final stage in order to achieve maximum benefit.

To intensify efforts for the implementation of quality standards stipulated in the GDDS which are adopted by the IMF with emphasize on the transparency of the flow of information.

To work on providing the details necessary for GFS which are required by the National Accounts system.

To benefit from the technical assistance offered by the IMF in the field of capacity building.

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To urge finance ministries in GCC countries to implement and use the GFS 2001 system on accrual basis and which is compatible with the national Accounts 1993.