Brazil hosts the IMF's Data Gaps Initiative (DGI-3) Global Conference

On June 11-13, over 140 representatives from G20 economies and the Inter Agency on Group on Economic and Financial Statistics met at the IMF's Data Gaps Initiative (DGI-3) Global Conference, organized by the IMF and hosted by the Central Bank of Brazil under the Brazilian G20 Presidency in Brasilia. The event, spanned three days of intensive discussions on addressing data gaps, including on environment and climate change. It brought together data producers, policymakers, and economists from the G20 countries to explore solutions to intricate data challenges. Participants underscored the necessity of bridging significant data gaps as outlined in the fourteen recommendations of the initiative, aiming to formulate targeted policy measures related to sustainability, inequality, and financial inclusion. Notably, the implementation of various accounts of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) is highlighted in four of these fourteen recommendations, namely recommendation 1 on carbon footprints and air emission accounts, recommendation 2 on energy accounts, recommendation 6 and 7 on climate-related subsidies and expenditures respectively.

G20 data contributors were reminded about the instrumental role of previous data gaps initiatives in helping policymakers navigate their economies following the global financial crisis. Bert Kroese, the IMF’s Chief Statistician, Data Officer, and Director of the Statistics Department, urged G20’s data producers to “...embrace the principles of innovation, courage, and progress and be open to learning from both successes and setbacks.” The DGI-3 framework is designed to further equip policymakers with a more refined and comprehensive set of tools, aiming to improve and enlarge the global collection of economic and financial statistics, as well as macro-relevant climate change statistics.

Learn more about DGI-3: https://www.imf.org/en/News/Seminars/Conferences/g20-data-gaps-initiative

Article contributed by the IMF Statistics Department