The Task Force on Finance Statistics (TFFS) is composed of nine international organizations of which UNCTAD is a member.
The TFFS sets methodological standards for statistics on external debt and on public sector debt, promotes data availability on financial stocks, encourages internationally accepted statistical practices to enhance data quality, and fosters inter-agency collaboration in statistical capacity building.
The TFFS has developed and disseminated two major guides on compilation and dissemination of external debt statistics and public sector debt statistics: the 2013 External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users and Public Sector Debt Statistics Guide.
These documents provide clear and comprehensive guidelines for the measurement and presentation of external and public debt statistics. Specifically, they provide guidance on:
Concepts and definitions, and classifications of external and public debt data.
Sources and techniques, for compiling this data.
Analytical use of this data.
These Guides are consistent with 2008 System National Accounts and the sixth edition of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual.
Created in 1992 under the auspices of the United Nations Statistical Commission, the TFFS takes stock of the activities of the international organizations involved in finance statistics and makes recommendations to streamline their work and avoid duplication of activities. In the wake of the financial crises of the mid-1990's, its mandate was broadened in 1998, to coordinate work to improve the methodological soundness, transparency, timeliness, and availability of data on external debt and public sector debt.
Chaired by the International Monetary Fund Statistics Department, the TFFS is comprised of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Commonwealth Secretariat (ComSec), the European Central Bank (ECB), Eurostat, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Paris Club Secretariat, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the World Bank.
The TFFS meets annually, alternately in Washington or in Europe, at the Headquarters of one of its members. It reports every three years to the United Nations Statistical Commission, and annually to the IMF's Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics.
