Real gross domestic product for American Samoa increased 1.8 percent in 2022 after decreasing 0.8 percent in 2021, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. These statistics were developed under the Statistical Improvement Program funded by the Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
GDP for 2022
The increase in real GDP reflected increases in government spending and exports. Personal consumption expenditures, private fixed investment, and private inventory investment subtracted from growth. Imports, a subtraction item in the calculation of GDP, also decreased.
Government spending increased 5.0 percent, reflecting growth in territorial government spending. Territorial government spending was supported by federal grant revenues, including Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund payments and Education Stabilization Fund payments authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020; the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021; and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
Exports of goods and services increased 3.0 percent, primarily reflecting an increase in exports of canned tuna and related products. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau U.S. Trade with Puerto Rico and U.S. Possessions reports show that the quantities of prepared or preserved fish shipped from American Samoa to the 50 states and the District of Columbia were 3.3 percent higher in 2022 than in 2021. Exports of services also increased, primarily reflecting growth in visitor spending.