Economy

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. 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 by the current 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%

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): NA%

Labor force: 13,949 (1996)

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

Unemployment rate: 12% (1991)

Budget:
revenues: $121 million (37% in local revenue and 63% in US grants)
expenditures: $127 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY96/97)

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

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - production: 125 million kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 116 million kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)

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

Exports: $313 million (1996)

Exports - commodities: canned tuna 93%

Exports - partners: US 99.6%

Imports: $471 million (1996)

Imports - commodities: materials for canneries 56%, food 8%, petroleum products 7%, machinery and parts 6%

Imports - partners: US 62%, Japan 9%, NZ 7%, Australia 11%, Fiji 4%, other 7%

Debt - external: $NA

Economic aid - recipient: $NA; note - important financial support from the US

Currency: 1 US dollar (US$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: US currency is used