The Government's national priorities for Samoa stated in the "Pathway for the Development of Samoa 2022-2026" with a vision of "Fostering social harmony, safety, and freedom for all", are implemented under the guidance of the theme "Empowering communities, building resilience, and inspiring growth".

These 'people-centered' priorities are delivered through targeted community support addressing the challenges and needs of all 51 districts including the most vulnerable population, through the $51m District Development Program (DDP).

In addition, sectoral priorities in the key areas of health, education, transport and infrastructure, energy, tourism, ICT, trade, finance, and agriculture are being implemented concurrently.

The DDP, with an annual allocation of $51 million tala is funded entirely from the national budget, using domestic resources. The district-led initiatives and priorities are managed and implemented by the respective districts under the guidance of the district councils.

The government role is provided through the DDP Steering Committee (a cabinet-appointed subcommittee), the DDP Technical Working Group, and the Ministry of Women, Community, and Social Development.

It is imperative to highlight that the Government's cash position remains far from any critical low level, reassuringly upheld by the Ministry of Finance's meticulous oversight under the leadership of the Minister of Finance, through daily cash position updates, monthly cash management meetings, and quarterly updates of the economy.

The Government's cash position at the end of the financial year is audited as part of its Public Account presented to Parliament. The stability of its financial position owes much to the robust economic growth Samoa has experienced since borders re-opened in August 2022, with GDP soaring by 8.0% in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Notably, this surge in economic activity has bolstered revenue collections without any need for rate adjustments, underscoring the government's prudent fiscal management.

The recent commitment of AUD$20 million (SAT$36.7 million) by the Government of Australia in April 2024 is earmarked as budgetary support for the forthcoming CHOGM summit and other national budget priorities, which will be appropriated under the FY24/25 Main Estimates.

These funds will be channeled through the Joint Policy Action Matrix mechanism, a formal framework for collaborative general budgetary assistance involving the development partners Australia, New Zealand, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Union. In 2022, Australia also supported Samoa with additional general budget support (AUD$20 million), appropriated through the FY 22/23 First Supplementary, to assist with the Government's economic recovery efforts.

All cash grants under bilateral aid and multilateral aid agreements are received through the Ministry of Finance except aid in kind, which are directly delivered by the development partner to the beneficiaries.

As Samoa's economy slowly recovers from the impacts ofCovid-19 pandemic, the focus is on bringing down inflation (which is primarily from imported inflation), building fiscal buffers through improved compliance in revenue collections and the Government's commitment to the 'no borrowing' strategy as per the medium Term Debt Strategy2021/22-2025/26.

(Saoleititi Maeva Betham Vaai)

Chief Executive Officer

Ministry Of Finance