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. According to one observer, 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, may be held back in 1998 by the financial difficulties in East Asia.

GDP purchasing power parity - $150 million (1995 est.)

GDP - real growth rate NA%

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $2,600 (1995 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%

Inflation rate - consumer price index NA %

Labor force
total: 14,400 (1990)
by occupation: government 33%, tuna canneries 34%, other 33% (1990)

Unemployment rate 12% (1991)

Budget
revenues: $97 million ($43 million in local revenue and $54 million in grant revenue)
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY90/91)

Industries tuna canneries (largely dependent on foreign fishing vessels), handicrafts

Industrial production growth rate NA%

Electricity - capacity 33,000 kW (1995)

Electricity - production 105 million kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita 1,830 kWh (1995)

Agriculture - products bananas, coconuts, vegetables, taro, breadfruit, yams, copra, pineapples, papayas; dairy farming

Exports
total value: $318 million (f.o.b., 1992)
commodities: canned tuna 93%
partners: US 99.6%

Imports
total value: $418 million (c.i.f., 1992)
commodities: materials for canneries 56%, food 8%, petroleum products 7%, machinery and parts 6%
partners: US 62%, Japan 9%, NZ 7%, Australia 11%, Fiji 4%, other 7%

Debt - external $NA

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $NA
note: important financial support from the US

Currency 1 US dollar (US$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates US currency is used

Fiscal year 1 October - 30 September

NOTE: The information regarding American Samoa on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of American Samoa Economy 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about American Samoa Economy 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.