Governor Ismaili meets the Chief Statistician of the International Monetary Fund, Bert Kroese – reforms and future developments in the field of statistics are discussed

17/04/2024

As part of the spring meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) that are being held in Washington D.C., the Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo (CBK), Mr. Ahmet Ismaili, accompanied by his associates, held a meeting with the Director of the Department of Statistics and at the same time the Chief Statistician of the IMF, Mr. Bert Kroese and his team.

In the meeting it was discussed about future reforms and developments in the field of statistics, in order to advance data preparation, increase transparency and provide clearer information to the public.

During the meeting, it was discussed more concretely about the advancement of the reporting of the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo from the General Data Distribution System (GDDS) to the Special Data Distribution Standard (SDDS) and the increase of the CBK's capacities in this area, the advancement of the construction of the Index for the Calculation of Real Estate Prices (ICREP), the possibility of building a model for the measurement of cash in circulation and the advancement of the compilation of financial accounts. 

Also, it was discussed about the advancement of methodologies for governmental financial statistics and inter-institutional coordination in order to improve the quality of data.

The advancement of reforms in these areas will have an impact on economic policy-making, asset valuation, prevention of money laundering, and more efficient supervision of financial institutions, all of this in function of the financial and economic stability of the Republic of Kosovo. 

Governor Ismaili expressed his gratitude to the IMF for the continuous assistance to the CBK and informed the senior leaders of this institution about the reforms undertaken by the institution lead by him and the readiness for close cooperation both in the field of statistics and in other spheres important within the scope of the CBK.

In the framework of the meeting, it was confirmed that the IMF's support for the CBK will continue in the future in a function of capacity building and development reforms in the field of statistics, of a special importance for fair and transparent information of citizens.