Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday announced its new Data Download application, which provides interactive access to Federal Reserve statistical data in a variety of electronic formats. Data Download is the first application to allow custom data packages to be created in SDMX-ML, a technical statistical data standard that is gaining support among central banks and statistical agencies.

"Accurate and timely data are crucial for decision making in the private and public sector. Markets work best when people are well-informed. The Federal Reserve is using the latest technology to make data more accessible and easier to understand--key elements of our mission in promoting financial education," said Federal Reserve Governor Randall S. Kroszner.

Data from the following four releases are now available: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization (G.17), Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States (Z.1), Commercial Paper, and Selected Interest Rates (H.15). More releases will be added in the future. The application delivers customized data sets in machine-readable electronic formats (Excel, CSV, XML) or allows for quick downloading of formatted data packages.

The SDMX-ML technical standard was developed by the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) initiative under the governance of the Bank for International Settlements, the European Central Bank, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Eurostat, the United Nations, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Data Download is available on the Board's web site at http://www.federalreserve.gov/datadownload.