An increase in consumer spending — the first since 2004 — helped offset the decline in American Samoa’s economy in 2013, according to American Samoa's estimated gross domestic product (GDP) report released Monday by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

According to the report, the GDP for American Samoa shows that real GDP – GDP adjusted to remove price changes – decreased 2.4 percent in 2013. In contrast, real GDP for the U.S. — excluding the territories — increased by 2.2 percent in 2013.

The decline in the American Samoa's economy reflected a decrease in territorial government spending that was partly offset by increases in consumer spending and private fixed investment, it says.

A footnote in the report explains that consumer spending is referred to as “personal consumption expenditures” while government spending is referred to as “government consumption expenditures and gross investment”.

According to BEA data, territorial government spending in 2013 declined by 3.70% (from $333 million in 2012 to $308 million last year) while consumer spending increased by 1.11% (from $446 million in 2012 to $461 million last year).

BEA says territorial government spending declined for a second year (2.26% decline in 2012), primarily reflecting reductions in construction spending and equipment purchases.

“Federal grant revenues, which make up a significant portion of the central government’s revenues, also decreased for a second year,” the report said.

Overall total spending for both federal and local government was $331 million compared to $355 million the year before, the BEA report shows.

For consumer spending, BEA said it grew for the first time since 2004 and the largest contributor to the increase in 2013 was in the purchases of nondurable goods, an increase of 1.24%. The growth in nondurable goods was driven primarily by food and beverage purchases.

In 2013, total consumer spending was $461 million — with $224 million in goods ($200 million in nondurable goods).

The BEA report also says that private fixed investment, which includes spending by businesses on construction and equipment, grew in 2013 by 0.35% (from $19 million in 2012 to $23 million last year)

This  growth reflected investments by the tuna canning industry, including the completion of a multimillion-dollar cold storage facility in April 2013, the report says, referring to Tri Marine International’s cold storage at its Samoa Tuna Processors Inc. facility in Atu’u.

Released together together with the 2013 GDP is American Samoa’s GDP by industry, and compensation for 2012. It says that the estimates of GDP by industry for American Samoa show that the private sector declined — by 4.9% — in 2012; and the decline was due to a decrease in non-manufacturing industries that was partly offset by an increase in the manufacturing sector, in particular, the tuna canning industry.

For the government sector, there was growth of 3.4% in 2012, reflecting an increase (of 4.0%)  in territorial government compensation.

It also says that total compensation grew from $285 million in 2011 to $295 million in 2012, which shows $123 million for private sector and $171 for government compensation.

AGREEMENT

The estimates released in the report were developed under the Statistical Improvement Program funded by the U.S. Interior Department’s Office of Insular Affairs.

In moving forward, the report said, 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,” it says.

Full details of the 2013 GDP and updates for 2012 can be found online: www.bea.gov