In the past few years the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has launched various initiatives to enhance transparency in the dissemination of statistics and to strengthen the integrity of the statistical systems of the member countries that may be consulted on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board
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In 1996, the IMF established the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) in order to ensure that countries that have or seek access to capital markets comply with certain standards as to dissemination of statistics, and to ensure that users in general, and financial market participants in particular, have adequate information to assess the situation of countries. The SDDS establishes certain categories of statistics that must be disseminated and certain requirements that must be met in terms of the data content, periodicity and releases and the accessibility, integrity and quality of the disseminated data. Compliance with these requirements by countries adhering to the SDDS is monitored on a regular basis by the services of the IMF. Spain adhered to the SDDS in September 1996 and complied with the requirements in December 2000.
In 2012, the IMF reinforced the SDDS, incorporating new data categories and other requirements to make the data more accessible. This second tier, "SDDS+", aims to provide information on IMF member countries whose economies and financial systems play an important role in international financial markets. Spain was among the first group of countries to adhere to the SDDS+, in February 2015, complying with the requirements in eight of the nine new categories. The deadline for compliance with the last category is 2019.