Samoa's economic recovery continues to be boosted by increasing visitor arrivals and receipts as well as remittances in the 12 months to June 2023.

Data released by the Central Bank of Samoa (CBS) on Monday this week through its Report on the Macro-Economy for the Financial Year 2022/2023 (Twelve months up to June 2023) showed growth in exports as well as visitor arrivals and receipts, private remittances, and foreign reserves.

In the 12 months to June 2023, total exports of goods from Samoa stood at SAT$119.04 million which CBS says is 43.6 per cent higher than SAT$82.90 million recorded over 12 months to June 2022. As to the composition of the exports, re-exports took the lion's share accounting for 54.6 per cent or SAT$65.01 million while domestically-produced exports accounted for 45.4 per cent or SAT$54.04 million.

The export of fresh fish generated the largest revenue for the country in the 12 months to June 2023, bringing in SAT$23.79 million (or 20.0 per cent of total export revenue), followed by crude coconut oil SAT$12.90 million (or 10.8 per cent), taro SAT$3.92 million (or 3.3 per cent), Nonu juice SAT$2.38 million (2.0 per cent) and beer SAT$2.03 million (or 1.7 per cent). 

The country's fledgling tourism and service sectors – which have slowly been on a rebound following the reopening of Samoa's borders in August last year – continue to be boosted by the spike in visitor arrivals and receipts. According to the CBS report, a total of 124,655 visitors were recorded for the 12 months to June 2023 of which 51,924 (or 41.7 per cent) were visiting friends and relatives while 43,639 (or 35.0 per cent) were holidaymakers.  

The total receipts, in terms of revenue generated for the country courtesy of the travellers' spending in the 12 months to June 2023, show a total of SAT$420.99 million of which SAT$206.71 million (or 49.1 per cent) was spent by those visiting friends and relatives while holidaymakers accounted for SAT$131.61 million (or 31.3 per cent).

As for private remittances, which are being credited for keeping the Samoan economy afloat, a total of SAT$832.13 million was recorded for the 12 months to June 2023. The C.B.S. says this is 13.6 per cent higher than the SAT$732.43 million recorded in the twelve months to June 2022.

On the gross official foreign reserves for Samoa, the C.B.S. report said SAT$1,098.09 million was recorded at the end of June 2023 which it said was 35.1 per cent higher than the same month last year. 

"This is sufficient to cover 10.9 months of imports, which was similar to that for June of 2022," added the C.B.S. report.

As for the Government's debt levels, as of the end of the March 2023 quarter, SAT$882.06 million (around 36.5 per cent of nominal GDP) was recorded. The C.B.S. report said this is 7.0 per cent lower than SAT$948.46 million in the March 2022 quarter (43.5 per cent of nominal GDP).

Samoa's gross domestic product or GDP as of the March 2023 quarter is $644.37 million or 20.4 per cent higher than $535.18 million in the March 2022 quarter.

Estimates of inflation at the end of June 2023 remain at 12.0 per cent from the previous month which the C.B.S. report says is well above 8.8 per cent recorded in June of last year.

"Underpinning the increase over the year was a strong pickup in local (component) inflation, which rose to 9.2 per cent from 8.7 per cent in the previous month and 3.9 per cent in June 2022," reads the C.B.S. report.

Quoting data from the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (S.B.S.), which were based on its monthly surveys, the CBS report said the average volume of agricultural produce supplied to the local markets in the 12 months to June 2023 was 0.7 per cent lower over the same period last year. 

"This was mainly due to reductions in average supplies of stable food crops such as ta’amu, banana and pumpkin. As a result of shortage of agricultural products, the average price index rose by 38.0 per cent."