Australia believes that Samoa can successfully have locally-led development and they have backed this belief with SAT$91 million for the next eight years in direct budget support.

This means that for the next eight years, Australia will provide $11 million annually in budget support for Samoa to utilise the funds in development areas it sees fit.

According to the outgoing Australian High Commissioner Emily Luck, this is a long term commitment from Australia.

"That's because we know that Samoa somewhat prefers budget support and we're very happy with our systems, we've done some assessments of national systems and we know that what we see means that we can, we can give that long-term commitment in terms of budget support," she explained.

"And that's delivering against locally led objectives. So, we feel like the partnership between Australia and someone is very strong and very long-standing, and will be into the future. We're both founding members of the Pacific Islands Forum.

"And we work very closely in that forum to maintain regional unity, but also to look for opportunities for better connectivity between Pacific Island countries. Looking at some of the ways we can learn from COVID, around trade facilitation movement of people, goods, services, they're all things that we're collectively thinking about together."

Ms. Luck and Samoa's Finance Minister Lautimuia Uelese Vaai signed the funding arrangement for the first four years of Australia’s eight-year AUD$50million (WST$91 million) commitment in the week before Christmas.

This commitment provides long-term fiscal certainty and support for Samoa to pursue its locally-led development priorities.

Australia delivers its budget support through Samoa’s Joint Policy Action Matrix (JPAM) together with New Zealand, World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Union. Through JPAM, development partners combine their global expertise, under the Ministry of Finance’s leadership, to support Samoa’s own reform and policy agenda.

Meanwhile, Samoa remains one of the most aid-dependent countries in the world according to key findings in a Pacific Aid Map report by the Lowy Institute.

The report revealed Samoa has the second lowest Official Development Assistance to Gross National Income ratio in the Pacific region.

Official Development Assistance (ODA) is defined as government aid that promotes and specifically targets the economic development and welfare of developing countries.

According to the report that was published last year, Samoa’s aid accounts for 10 per cent of national income.

“In a global context, Samoa remains among the most aid-dependent countries in the world, ranking 28th out of 134 developing countries for its ODA/GNI ratio.

“The Samoan government’s development agenda highlights the need for capacity building, economic diversification, and investment in climate-resilient infrastructure.”

The research paper noted Samoa’s Human Development Index score ranks 111th out of 191 ranked countries.