2021 GDP decreases from the record 2020 increase of 5%

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa’s real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased by 1.7% in 2021 after increasing 5.0% in 2020, according to statistics released yesterday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

“The decrease in real GDP reflected decreases in exports and private inventory investment,” BEA explained. “These decreases were partly offset by increases in personal consumption expenditures, government spending, and private fixed investment.”

“Imports, a subtraction item in the calculation of GDP, declined,” according to BEA, which develops the statistics for the U.S territories under the Statistical Improvement Program, funded by the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

For 2020, BEA said last year that activity “related to the tuna canning industry was a significant source of growth in the American Samoa economy.”

In his address to a joint session of the Fono in July this year, Gov. Lemanu Peleti Mauga said federal grant dollars are among the largest contributors to the 2020 GDP for the territory. “We also anticipate an increase for the 2021 GDP given the continuing increase of federal awards, consumer spending and exports,” he told lawmakers.

In 2021, the BEA report stated that the American Samoa economy was affected by the continued federal government response related to the COVID–19 pandemic.

And territorial government and consumer spending were supported by federal payments authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020; the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act of 2021; and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021.

“Expenditures funded by these payments are reflected in the GDP estimates,” BEA explained. “However, the full effects of the pandemic cannot be quantified in BEA statistics for American Samoa, because the impacts are generally embedded in the data sources used to estimate the components of GDP.”

For exports in 2021, BEA said they decreased 27.0% primarily reflecting a decline in exports of canned tuna and related products, said BEA, noting that data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s U.S Trade with Puerto Rico and U.S Possessions report shows that the “quantities of prepared or preserved fish shipped from American Samoa to the 50 states and the District of Columbia were 29% lower in 2021 compared with 2020.”

On government spending, it increased 8.0% reflecting growth in territorial government spending. BEA explained that territorial government spending was supported by federal grant revenues, including Coronavirus Relief Fund payments and Education Stabilization Fund payments authorized by the CARES Act and the ARPA.

BEA also reported that “personal consumption expenditures” in 2021 increased 6.2% primarily reflecting growth in spending on goods, such as food and beverages, clothing, and furniture. Consumer spending was supported by government assistance payments distributed to households through the CRRSA Act and ARPA.

According to BEA, “private inventory investment” in 2021 decreased reflecting a decline in inventory investment of the tuna canning industry.

On the other hand, “private fixed investment” increased 30.8%, primarily reflecting growth in residential and nonresidential structures.

BEA reports that due to lags in the availability of data for various components of GDP, the statistics presented for 2021 are preliminary estimates. For example, data covering government spending and imports of goods for the fourth quarter of 2021 were not available in time for incorporation into this year's estimates of GDP. As additional source data become available, BEA will incorporate the information and will release updated estimates once a year.

Samoa News will report in future edition other details from the 2021 GDP report as well as revisions by BEA regarding the GDP for 2020 — which was released late last year.