ECONOMY
Economy
- overview: This is a traditional Polynesian economy in which
more than 90% of the land is communally owned. Economic activity
is strongly linked to the US, with which American Samoa conducts
the great bulk of its foreign trade. Tuna fishing and tuna processing
plants are the backbone of the private sector, with canned tuna
the primary export. Transfers from the US Government add substantially
to American Samoa's economic well-being. Attempts by the government
to develop a larger and broader economy are restrained by Samoa's
remote location, its limited transportation, and its devastating
hurricanes. Tourism, a developing sector, has been held back by
the recurring financial difficulties in East Asia.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $500 million (2000 est.)
GDP
- real growth rate: NA%
GDP
- per capita: purchasing power parity - $8,000 (2000 est.)
GDP
- composition by sector:
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%
Population
below poverty line: NA%
Household
income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation
rate (consumer prices): NA%
Labor
force: 14,000 (1996)
Labor
force - by occupation: government 33%, tuna canneries 34%, other
33% (1990)
Unemployment
rate: 16% (1993)
Budget:
revenues: $121 million (37% in local revenue and 63% in US grants)
expenditures: $127 million, including capital expenditures of
$NA (FY96/97)
Industries:
tuna canneries (largely dependent on foreign fishing vessels),
handicrafts
Industrial
production growth rate: NA%
Electricity
- production: 130 million kWh (1999)
Electricity
- production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1999)
Electricity
- consumption: 120.9 million kWh (1999)
Electricity
- exports: 0 kWh (1999)
Electricity
- imports: 0 kWh (1999)
Agriculture
- products: bananas, coconuts, vegetables, taro, breadfruit,
yams, copra, pineapples, papayas; dairy products, livestock
Exports:
$500 million (1998)
Exports
- commodities: canned tuna 93%
Exports
- partners: US 99.6%
Imports:
$471 million (1996)
Imports
- commodities: materials for canneries 56%, food 8%, petroleum
products 7%, machinery and parts 6%
Imports
- partners: US 62%, Japan 9%, NZ 7%, Australia 11%, Fiji 4%, other
7%
Debt
- external: $NA
Economic
aid - recipient: important financial support from the
US, more than $40 million in 1994
Currency:
US dollar (USD)
Currency
code: USD
Exchange
rates: the US dollar is used
Fiscal
year: 1 October - 30 September
