Catalog

	Table of Contents
p. 26 of 44 BACK | NEXT Country Reports East and Central Asia Mekong Pacific Cook Islands Fiji Islands Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Timor-Leste Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu South Asia Southeast Asia

Annual Report 2002 : Pacific

---

Samoa

Economic performance

Economic growth in Samoa slowed to 1.3% in 2002, due to a decline in construction, tourism, agricultural production, and fish exports. Annual average inflation increased to 5.5% in 2002 because of the impact of unfavorable weather on the main agricultural commodities, and the increased costs for local transportation. The Government followed an expansionary fiscal policy, resulting in a deficit of 2% of GDP. The central bank maintained an accommodative monetary policy stance. The balance of payments recorded an overall surplus of 2.3 million tala ($0.7 million equivalent) due to increased capital inflows. At the end of 2002, foreign exchange reserves stood at 4.5 months of imports of goods and nonfactor services. External debt—mostly concessional—declined to 52% of GDP in FY2002 (ending 30 June 2002).

ADB operations

Operational strategy:ADB’s strategy is three-pronged. First, ADB supports initiatives that foster good governance to build capacity for sound economic and public sector management, sustain financial reforms, facilitate privatization, and improve performance by public agencies. Second, ADB helps the Government upgrade living standards and reduce income disparity through improved equity and access to quality education. Third, ADB provides assistance for private sector growth and increased employment opportunities by promoting policies that create an enabling environment for private sector development; improving infrastructure; and developing micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises.

Policy dialogue: Policy dialogue related to private sector participation in public services delivery, and the implementation of the new legislative framework for state-owned enterprises. Dialogue also focused on the policy and legislative environment for business development, legal impediments in the economic use of customary land, and ways to improve debt recovery mechanisms and facilitate secured transactions.

Loans and technical assistance: No loans were approved in 2002. Three technical assistance totaling $1 million were approved (see tables 24 and 25 in the Statistical Annex).

Project implementation: Since joining ADB in 1966, Samoa has received 29 loans totaling $113.9 million, of which 3 were active at the end of 2002. Contract awards totaled $1.0 million, bringing the cumulative figure to $99.3 million. The contract awards ratio for 2002 was 6.9%—lower than ADB’s average of 22.6%. Disbursements in 2002 totaled $810,000, bringing cumulative disbursements to $95.3 million. The disbursement ratio was 5.3%—lower than the ADB-wide average of 22.2% (see tables 14–23 in the Statistical Annex).

Back Papua New Guinea	Next Solomon Islands