As a global network that discusses statistical issues of interest to central banks, the IFC now has 96 members and is an affiliated member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). It is chaired by Rashad Cassim, Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB).
The IFC’s activities continued to be significantly affected by the impact of the pandemic during the period under review, making it more difficult for its members to network and exchange experience. Despite these challenges, the IFC has furthered its work in several key areas in 2021, thanks to the support of its member central banks, the ISI and a number of international organisations. These activities centred on:
- Central banking statistics after Covid-19: the Committee maintains a web page to present relevant work by its members and their experiences in dealing with the pandemic’s impact on official statistics. It also participated actively in last year’s 63rd ISI biennial World Statistics Congress (WSC), sponsoring several sessions on the post-Covid 19 outlook for central bank statistics.
- Big data: IFC members are increasingly working with big data, which has become a significant focus of interest even at senior policy level. A diverse range of sources is used to back central banks’ mandates, despite challenges related to eg IT infrastructure, the use of private information and quality aspects. To further the work on these issues, the Committee has developed a series of workshops on data science in central banking.
- Micro data: the IFC has identified a number of recommendations to facilitate the integration of micro data in macroeconomic aggregates and/or the linkage between micro- and macro-level statistics. It also supports global statistical initiatives and standards that will help deal with granular information.
- Data governance: central bank statisticians are increasingly aware of the need for strong governance standards for collecting, managing, disseminating and using data. Yet it is equally vital to cover the entire production and use of national statistics, including alternative sources – eg by developing principles for engaging with external data providers or promoting the role of official statisticians as reference custodians of the quality of the data used by society.
- Fintech: the IFC has continued to work on fintech data issues, with two areas of focus: the global adoption of a revised classification of economic activities that takes better account of fintech firms; and the promotion of central banks’ related work in the context of the 2021 ISI WSC and the G20 Data Gaps Initiative (DGI).
- Sustainable finance: the Committee co-organised with the Bank of France, the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Netherlands Bank two events on sustainable finance data issues last year. It also launched a survey on central banks’ data needs/availability in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) areas. This work has helped to identify a number of key recommendations for guiding central banks’ work on sustainable finance statistics.
The development of the above workstreams was accompanied last year by renewed efforts in two areas. The first relates to the IFC’s contribution to the reinforcement of central banks’ statistical expertise, with (i) the establishment of a global repository of best practices to address members’ requests for technical guidance building on the experience of others; and (ii) the sponsoring, together with a number of central banks and international organisations, of an online course on macroeconomic financial accounts. The second area has represented the IFC’s continued support to global statistical initiatives, specifically those related to the completion of the second phase of the DGI in 2021.
In 2022, the Committee will further its work in the various areas outlined above, and a number of events will be organised in this context, with the support of the central banks of Italy, Portugal and South Africa as well as the ECB. An important focus will be on the IFC contribution to a possible new DGI envisaged by the G20 to improve data availability and provision, especially in the areas related to environmental, fintech and data access/sharing issues. Lastly, the Committee will organise its Biennial Conference in August 2022. This will provide the statistical community with an important opportunity to analyse the post-pandemic landscape for official statistics and to shape the agenda and future priorities for central banks.