The effects of the financial turmoil are worldwide. On 15 November 2008, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty (G20) held a Summit on financial markets and the world economy to enhance the cooperation and work to restore global growth and achieve needed reforms in the world’s financial systems. They confirmed the commitment to continue the efforts to support the global economy and stabilize financial markets and to lay the foundation for reform to help to ensure that a global crisis does not happen again (
declaration).
The Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors also called for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), the predecessor of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), “to explore gaps and provide appropriate proposals for strengthening data collection before the next meeting of G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.”
An interagency group has been established to strengthen finance statistics. It is chaired by the IMF and includes representatives from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the European Central Bank (ECB), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Eurostat, the United Nations (UN), and the World Bank. This initiative has already achieved to set up a website with data to facilitate the monitoring of economic and financial developments for the Group of 20 (G-20) countries:
the Principal Global Indicators website.
A series of international seminars on early warning and business cycle indicators initiated by UNSD and Eurostat is seeking a coordinated statistical response going beyond the framework of the Group of 20. The third and final seminar in November 2010 will formulate recommendations for the monitoring of business cycles, early detection of turning points and for improving statistical tools for this purpose.
