Govt. allocates $1million for Gas station

By Sapeer Mayron 28 May 2020, 9:00AM

The Government is proposing to spend $6.7 million on managing its assets, including building its own service station and refurbishing its storage warehouse.

Included in the proposed $133.3 million tala for the Ministry of Finance purse, $4.7 million is dedicated to Government assets insurance.

Another million tala is proposed for a Government service station at Tuana'imato, moving the nation’s vehicle fleet away from the rental arrangement in Pesega. 

The budget is for relocating the Government’s bowser, or petrol tanker, from Pesega to Tuianaimato to go with the as yet to be built station.

A further million tala is set aside for doing-up the Vaimea Government warehouse, home to unused state-owned assets. 

Minister of Finance Sili Epa Tuioti tabled the budget on Tuesday for its first reading. 

He said while several unexpected shocks have damaged the country’s stable wealth, he is overwhelmingly proud of how Samoa has fared in the last five years.

As well as the $965 million budget, Sili announced a second stimulus package to help Samoa recover from the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused massive economic damage.

“Millions of people have been left without work, many companies and industries worldwide that drove economic development have been forced to shut down further worsening global economic projections which at current is expected to contract by no less than five per cent in the current fiscal year,” he said.

“For Samoa alone, it is anticipated that the economy will contract by -3.3 per cent in the current 2019/20 fiscal year.”

The entire package is worth $83 million, and includes more Samoa National Provident Fund money released, an increase to the pension, stimulus to the agriculture and tourism sectors and a boost to the non-government organisations working with vulnerable groups.

By Sapeer Mayron 28 May 2020, 9:00AM

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