BEA Bureau of Economic Analysis : Gross Domestic Product for American Samoa, 2014

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NEWS RELEASE

EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 3:00 P.M. EST, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

Aya Hamano: [phone] (BEA) BEA 16-02

Tanya Harris Joshua: [phone] (OIA)

THE BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS (BEA) RELEASES 2014 ESTIMATES OF GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT FOR AMERICAN SAMOA

UTULEI, AMERICAN SAMOA (January 13, 2016) -- Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is releasing estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for American Samoa for 2014, in addition to estimates of GDP by industry and compensation by industry for 2013.1 These estimates were developed under the Statistical Improvement Program funded by the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

This release also includes the results of the first comprehensive revision of the territorial economic accounts. Revised estimates of GDP, GDP by industry, and compensation by industry are presented, extending back to 2002.

Gross Domestic Product for 2014

The estimates of GDP for American Samoa show that real GDP -- GDP adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 1.6 percent in 2014 (see Table 1.3). For comparison, real GDP for the U.S. (excluding the territories) increased 2.4 percent in 2014.

The growth in the American Samoa economy reflected widespread increases among the components of GDP (see Table 1.4). These increases were partly offset by an increase in imports of goods, which is a subtraction item in the calculation of GDP.

Growth in private fixed investment and in exports of goods reflected increased activity of the tuna canning industry. Private fixed investment, which is spending by businesses on construction and equipment, increased for a second consecutive year. This growth reflected continued investments by the tuna canning industry, including the construction of a multimillion dollar tuna processing plant. The increase in exports of goods was due to growth in exports of canned tuna.

Government spending also increased, primarily reflecting growth in spending by the territorial government.2 Federal grant revenues supported major territorial government projects in 2014, including the telecommunication authority's work to improve broadband capacity and coverage in American Samoa.

1 These estimates are based on limited source data and are subject to revision.

2 In this news release, "government spending" refers to "government consumption expenditures and gross investment."

Gross Domestic Product by Industry and Compensation by Industry for 2013

The estimates of GDP by industry show that the private sector and the government sector both declined in 2013 (see Table 2.4). The decline in the private sector primarily reflected a decrease in nonmanufacturing industries (see Table 2.5). The manufacturing sector also contracted due to lower output of the tuna canning industry. The decline in the government sector primarily reflected operating losses of territorial government enterprises.

The compensation by industry estimates, which are measured in current dollars, show trends in compensation for major industries (see Table 2.6). Total compensation increased in 2013 due to growth in nonmanufacturing industries and in the territorial government sector.

The accompanying tables present estimates for GDP and its major components, GDP by industry, and compensation by industry. Also included in this release are estimates for the major components of gross domestic income.

Revisions to GDP

With the comprehensive revision, estimates for 2002 to 2013 have been revised in order to incorporate improvements to source data, including:

• newly available and/or revised source data provided by the American Samoa government,

• results from BEA's latest revisions to the national accounts, and

• information from the 2012 Economic Census of Island Areas, which provides the most thorough and detailed information on the structure of the American Samoa economy.

The 2012 Economic Census of Island Areas included, for the first time, information on American Samoa businesses' capital expenditures for structures and equipment. This resulted in improved estimates of private fixed investment that replaced indirect measures based on building permit data and imports of capital goods. The revised estimates are larger than the indirect measures; for example, in 2012, private fixed investment previously represented less than 3 percent of GDP; in the revised estimates, private fixed investment represents approximately 8 percent of GDP.

The revised estimates show a similar pattern of economic growth as the previously published estimates (see Chart 1).

From 2002 to 2013, real GDP decreased at an average annual rate of 1.4 percent, compared with a decrease of 1.0 percent in the previously published estimates.

Future directions

Moving forward, an agreement between OIA and BEA will extend and improve the estimates of GDP for American Samoa. The information provided by the American Samoa government will continue to be critical to the successful production of these estimates.

BEA currently plans to release GDP estimates for 2015 in the summer of 2016. GDP by industry and compensation by industry estimates for 2014 will also be released at the same time.

BEA's national, international, regional, and industry statistics; the Survey of Current Business; and BEA news releases are available without charge on BEA's Web site at www.bea.gov. By visiting the site, you can also subscribe to receive free e-mail summaries of BEA releases and announcements.

American Samoa‌‌‌

1. Domestic Product and Income

Table 1.1. Gross Domestic Product

Line	[Millions of dollars]
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Gross domestic product Personal consumption expenditures Goods Durable goods Nondurable goods Services Net foreign travel Private fixed investment Change in private inventories Net exports of goods and services Exports Goods Services Imports Goods Services Government consumption expenditures and gross investment Federal Territorial	1	514	527	512	503	496	520	563	678	576	574	644	641	645
	2	312	332	357	367	375	383	407	398	402	414	424	453	465
	3	155	167	185	189	191	195	208	196	197	188	189	220	233
	4	20	21	26	24	24	23	27	24	25	23	23	29	31
	5	135	145	159	165	167	171	181	172	172	166	167	191	202
	6	156	164	172	180	186	189	202	207	211	229	242	244	245
	7	1	1	-1	-3	-1	-1	-3	-5	-5	-4	-6	-11	-13
	8	22	24	28	35	39	41	46	38	49	51	53	60	69
	9	5	9	8	-6	-3	-8	-17	-6	-5	-3	0	5	29
	10	-41	-59	-107	-116	-139	-116	-113	-26	-174	-225	-161	-190	-254
	11	518	513	460	498	495	505	641	530	364	335	482	449	412
	12	502	495	440	479	477	487	621	510	341	313	456	423	384
	13	16	18	20	19	18	17	20	20	22	22	26	26	28
	14	559	571	567	614	634	621	754	556	537	559	643	639	666
	15	511	517	513	564	582	571	698	508	489	509	588	585	605
	16	48	55	54	50	52	50	56	49	48	50	55	54	61
	17	216	221	227	224	224	220	241	275	304	337	329	313	337
	18	10	20	26	23	19	17	20	30	22	23	22	22	24
	19	206	201	201	201	205	203	220	244	281	314	306	291	313

NOTE. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.