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EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 3:30 P.M. EDT, FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018

BEA 18-42

American Samoa GDP Decreases in 2017

Tuna canning industry exports decline significantly

UTULEI, AMERICAN SAMOA (August 24, 2018) -- Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is releasing estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for American Samoa for 2017, in addition to estimates of GDP by industry and compensation by industry for 2016.¹ 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.

Revised estimates of GDP for 2015 and 2016, as well as revised estimates of GDP by industry and compensation by industry for 2015, are also presented in this release.

Gross Domestic Product for 2017

The estimates of GDP for American Samoa show that real GDP—GDP adjusted to remove price changes—decreased 5.3 percent in 2017 after decreasing 2.7 percent in 2016 (see Table 1.3). For comparison, real GDP for the United States (excluding the territories) increased 2.2 percent in 2017 after increasing 1.6 percent in 2016.

Chart of Real GDP: Percent change from preceding year.

The decline in the American Samoa economy reflected decreases in exports of goods and government spending (see Table 1.4). These decreases were partly offset by a decrease in imports of goods, which is a subtraction item in the calculation of GDP.

Exports of goods decreased 22.8 percent primarily due to a decrease in exports of canned tuna and related products. One of two tuna canneries located in American Samoa closed in December 2016.

Government spending also decreased, reflecting a continued decline in investment spending by the territorial government. Major infrastructure projects including the Satala Power Plant and the Ta'u solar microgrid were complete or nearly complete by the end of 2016.

Gross Domestic Product by Industry and Compensation by Industry for 2016

The estimates of GDP by industry for American Samoa show that the private sector and government sector contracted in 2016 (see Table 2.4). The decline in the private sector reflected a decrease in output of the cannery industry and nonmanufacturing industries, including construction. The decline in the government sector reflected a decrease in territorial government compensation and employment.

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 2016, reflecting growth in wages in the private 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

Estimates for 2015 and 2016 that were released on August 14, 2017 have been revised in order to incorporate improvements to source data, including:

newly available trade data from the American Samoa Department of Commerce,
newly available data for territorial government spending from government financial statements, and
newly available wage information from the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns.

The revised estimates show a similar pattern of inflation-adjusted growth as the previously published estimates (see Table 1.7).

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 2018 beginning in the summer of 2019. GDP by industry and compensation by industry estimates for 2017 will also be released at the same time.

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

Full Release & Tables (PDF)

Tables Only (Excel)

Technical (BEA)

Christina Hovland

301-278-9076

Territories@bea.gov

Media (BEA)

Jeannine Aversa

(301) 278-9003

Jeannine.Aversa@bea.gov

Media (OIA)

Melissa Braybrooks

202-336-2651

Melissa_Braybrooks@ios.doi.gov

Resources

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Historical time series for these estimates can be accessed at BEA's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the U.S. Territories.
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For more on BEA's statistics, see our monthly online journal, the Survey of Current Business.
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Definitions

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of the goods and services produced by the American Samoa economy less the value of the goods and services used up in production. GDP is also equal to the sum of personal consumption expenditures, private fixed investment, change in private inventories, net exports of goods and services, and government consumption expenditures and gross investment.

Personal consumption expenditures (PCE), also referred to as "consumer spending," measures the goods and services purchased by "persons"—that is, by households and by nonprofit institutions serving households (NPISHs)—who are resident in American Samoa.

Private fixed investment (PFI) measures spending by private businesses, nonprofit institutions, and households on fixed assets in the American Samoa economy. Fixed assets consist of structures, equipment, and software that are used in the production of goods and services.

Change in private inventories (CIPI), or "inventory investment," is a measure of the value of the change in the physical volume of the inventories—additions less withdrawals—that businesses maintain to support their production and distribution activities.

Net exports of goods and services is the difference between exports of goods and services and imports of goods and services. Exports measures the portion of total American Samoa production of goods and services that is provided to the rest of the world. Imports measures the portion of total American Samoa expenditures that is accounted for by goods and services provided by the rest of the world.

Government consumption expenditures and gross investment, or "government spending," measures the portion of GDP that is accounted for by the government sector. Government consumption expenditures consists of spending by government to produce and provide services to the public. Gross investment consists of spending by government for fixed assets that directly benefit the public or that assist government agencies in their production activities.

Gross domestic income (GDI) is the sum of incomes earned and costs incurred in the production of GDP. In national economic accounting, GDP and GDI are conceptually equal.

Current-dollar estimates are valued in the prices of the period when the transactions occurred—that is, at "market value." Also referred to as "nominal estimates" or as "current-price estimates."

Real values are inflation-adjusted estimates—that is, estimates that exclude the effects of price changes.

Statistical Conventions

Quantities and prices. Quantities, or "real" volume measures, and prices are expressed as index numbers with a specified reference year equal to 100 (currently 2009). Quantity and price indexes are calculated using a Fisher chain-weighted formula that incorporates weights from two adjacent years. "Real" dollar series are calculated by multiplying the quantity index by the current-dollar value in the reference year (2009) and then dividing by 100.

Chained-dollar values are not additive because the relative weights for a given period differ from those of the reference year.