Most time series selected for the country pages are concerned with national accounts and international transactions (foreign trade, balance of payments, and external debt). The Bank uses methodologies and historical data files developed by other international organizations, but adds information obtained by Bank staff directly from national sources, when it can be fitted to internationally agreed classification schemes.
For other data sets (manufacturing, monetary and fiscal, and social indicators), World Tablesrecasts a few of the time series made available to the Bank by other international agencies, but readers should refer to publications of the agencies concerned for fuller information. A more diverse selection of indicators, not in time series form, is given in the World Development Indicators.
World Tables provides limited time series on external debt, since the Bank's World Debt Tablesis the authoritative source. Similarly, a wider range of social indicators is available in the Bank's Social Indicators of Development.