Bulgaria is the eleventh country in the world to join the Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)[1].

The joining to this highest data dissemination international standard is a result of the combined efforts of the Bulgarian National Bank, the National Statistical Institute and the Ministry of Finance. Economic and Financial Data for Bulgaria http://www.bnb.bg/Statistics/SDDSPlus/SDDSPlusNationalPage/index.htm can be found on BNB's website as coordinator for Bulgaria in respect of the IMF Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus. The Ministry of Finance provides information under the standard related to government debt and central government operations.

The IMF Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus was established in 2012 with the aim to strengthen and supplement the existing statistics standards. It has stricter requirements for member countries concerning the scope of economic and financial data, their regularity, timeliness, accessibility and reliability. The standard supplements the Special Data Dissemination Standard joined by Bulgaria in 2003.

The joining to the Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus demonstrates to local and foreign investors, credit rating agencies, international financial institutions and all other users that the quality and reliability of statistical data used for making important macroeconomic and business decisions are consistent with the highest international statistical requirements.

So far the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic have joined the Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus.

[1] The statistical data under the new for Bulgaria standard and the countries that have joined the Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus are published on the website of the Ministry of Finance and can be found here.