Samoa's ongoing public investment for the current Budget has dropped by over $70 million tala compared to the FY2022/2023. 

This is outlined in the FY2023/2024 Budget Fiscal Strategy, made available on the Ministry of Finance's official website. 

Public investment means funding and allocating resources by government for projects and services that the private sector cannot successfully deliver on its own.

For the last financial year, the ongoing public investments spending was SAT$344 million, consisting of SAT$171 million capital projects and SAT$172 million for technical assistance funded programs. 

The total ongoing public investments for FY2022/2023 consisted of SAT$344 million total grants (99.6 per cent) and SAT$1million loans (0.4 per cent).

However, for the current financial year, the ongoing public investment spending estimated for both capital projects and technical assistance amounted to $269.7 million tala.

Out of this total, $165.4 million tala relates to sector budget support and investment projects. The remaining $104.3 million accounts for aid in-kind which includes technical assistance programs that aim to enhance various sectors of the economy.

According to the sector allocation, the top five sectors with the most significant portfolios are Transport and Infrastructure (42 per cent), Education (19 per cent), Law and Justice (13 per cent), Agriculture and Fisheries (8 per cent) and Health (6 per cent). This is followed by the other sectors including Community Development (4 per cent) and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (4 per cent), while the rest are below 2 per cent. 

The Transport and Infrastructure sector has total investments of SAT$111,878,908, including active development projects and active in-kind assistance projects. 

This is a big jump from the total investment of SAT$101million tala the sector received in the FY2022/2023 allocation. 

For the Education sector, a total of $50,540,224 investments has been allocated for the sector, including both active development projects and active in-kind assistance projects and it also sees an increase from the SAT$44 million total investments they received during the last financial year. 

The sector that will receive a significant increase in terms of total investments for the FY2023/2024 of over SAT$20 million compared to FY2022/2023 is the Law and Justice Sector. 

Last year, they received a total of $11,538,617.41 but they will be getting a total of SAT$35,152,109 total investments for active development projects and active in-kind assistance for the current fiscal year. 

Agriculture and Fisheries received total investments of $16 million tala respectfully in the FY2022/2023 will be getting an increase of $20,550,636 tala in the current financial year. 

For the Health Sector, a total of $9,918,283 tala is for active development projects and $6,408,653 tala for active in-kind assistance with a total active portfolio value of $16,326,935 tala.