The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Deutsche Bundesbank are jointly organising the Third IMF Statistical Forum on Official Statistics to Support Evidence-based Economic Policymaking. The event will take place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on 19 and 20 November 2015.

The president of the Deutsche Bundesbank Jens Weidmann will open the Third IMF Statistical Forum, and IMF Deputy Managing Director Min Zhu will introduce the Forum’s topics. Renowned economists from research and academia, statisticians as well as central bankers and representatives of international organisations will provide different perspectives on new statistical issues. These cover the relevance of micro data for evidence-based policymaking, big data and micro data hubs, statistics on a from-whom-to-whom basis, measuring macro­economic impacts of natural resources and measuring material conditions of households.

The IMF Statistical Forum is an annual global platform for data users, providers, and policymakers. The objectives of this forum are three-fold:

• to discuss cutting-edge statistical issues and forge a deeper understanding of different statistical perspectives;

• for participants to exchange views on data availability, usability, and interpretation; and

• to build a broader base of support for statistical improvements. In short, the intention is to promote a dialogue between suppliers and users of data on current and relevant economic and financial issues, and ensure that data compilers and providers are up-to-date with the latest policy and research thinking.

Evidence-based economic policymaking should ideally proceed in the same way as in pharmacological testing of a new medicine: Groups of individuals who are subject to the economic policy measure would be compared with those who are not. To provide this evidence, traditional macroeconomic statistics may not be sufficient.