Samoa's gross domestic product (G.D.P.) continues to drop to make this quarter the fourth quarterly decline in real terms, says a Samoa Bureau of Statistics report.

The SBS June 2022 Quarter report on the G.D.P. released on 29 September 2022 stated that economic activity in Samoa, as measured by the country's G.D.P. went down by 10.1 per cent in the June 2022 quarter.

"Economic activity, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.) went down by 10.1 per cent in the June 2022 quarter, recording total G.D.P. in real terms of $435.9 million," reads the SBS report.

"GDP continues to drop making this quarter the fourth quarterly decline in real terms; this follows revised growth rate of -8.0 per cent in March 2022. The Covid-19 pandemic continues to have significant influence on the economy."

According to the S.B.S. report, the quarter that came under review in this report was impacted heavily by COVID-19 community transmission case, especially towards the end of March this year. 

"With the discovery and transmission of Covid cases within the community towards the end of March quarter, the quarter under review was impacted strongly by the activation and continuation of consecutive lockdowns and the strong enforcement of preventative measures vital for the containment of the pandemic within the community."

The S.B.S. report stated that preventative measures such as social distancing, quarantining and the use of face masks were strongly enforced during the June 2022 quarter, in order to contain the virus from getting out of control, but the damage was already done in the economic sector.

"Most sectors of the economy performed negatively due to this effect with retailing and wholesaling activities, communication and information services, construction and civil engineering activities being the hardest hit this quarter."

The GDP for Samoa for the June 2022 Quarter remained at constant 2013 basic prices which amounted to $435.9 million.

The largest contributors to this decline represented the commerce, communication, construction, fishing, agriculture, accommodation and restaurants and electricity and water, the SBS report further emphasised.

Overall, fishing value added in real terms decreased by 53.4 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter of 2021. This is the fourth consecutive quarter of negative growth for the industry. 

This was driven by the 63.5 per cent decline in fish domestically consumed in the June 2022 quarter as both inshore and offshore landings supplied to the markets within the country went down by 69.6 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively. The industry contributed -1.6 percentage points to the overall real growth rate in June 2022.

In nominal terms, the industry’s value added went down by 37.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis recording $7.0 million in current prices. Its contribution to total nominal GDP decreased by 0.8 per cent compared to June 2021 quarter.