While such direct assistance has been the domain of IMF and national governments, central banks have been more concerned with maintaining the stability of the international financial system through maintaining the stability of domestic financial systems. Central banks are “in the market,” so to speak. As a result, they are able to collect up-to-date information on ever changing market conditions.
The NBER recession dating committee, for example, did not declare the March 2001 peak in the US economy until November that year. 6  Norman (2001). BIS Review 46/2004  3  might be wrong has some value. We just need to keep in mind that numerical forecasts are not much more than opinion formed (hopefully) within a coherent and disciplined framework.