Remittances into Samoa for the month of October grew by more than 28 per cent with the country being the recipient of $68.9 million which was an an increase of more than 15 per cent compared to the month prior. 

But money flowing into Samoa also rose sharply when calculated on a yearly basis; statisticians recorded an increase of $12.6 million compared to the same month last year.

The 22.4 per cent year-on-year gain in private remittances for October is shown in a Central Bank of Samoa report: "Visitor Earnings & Remittances Report” for October issued by the Central Bank of Samoa.

The $68.9 million is precisely 28.8 per cent or $15.4 million higher than the previous month.

The report revealed that increases in money being sent home compared to last year was driven mainly by growth in the size of transfers from Australia (up by $7.9 million), the United States (up by $4.0 million), New Zealand (up by $1.2 million) and American Samoa (up by $0.6 million).

“By recipients, the increase came from ‘Family and Households’ (up by $12.3 million), ‘Non-profit Institutions’ (NPISH) (up by $0.6 million) and ‘Others’ (up by $0.1 million),” read the report.

The report also states that the total inflow of remittances in the first four months of FY 2021/22 increased by 6.9 per cent (or $15.0 million) to $233.4 million over the same month last year.

“Underpinning the overall increase in the first four months were strong gains in transfers from Australia, United States, New Zealand and American Samoa by $8.7 million, $7.6 million, $3.5 million and $1.2 million respectively," the Bank found. 

“Partially contributing to the expansion of remittances was the appreciation of the Samoan Tala against New Zealand dollar (by 0.3 per cent) and US dollar (by 0.1 per cent) over last year. 

“In terms of recipients, total funds for ‘Family and Households’, ‘Hand carried cash’ and ‘In Kind’ rose by $21.6 million, $4.6 million and $2.4 million respectively.”

In addition, the monthly share of total remittances inflows received directly through Money Transfers operators (MTO’s) fell to 78.3 per cent from 89.3 per cent in October 2020 while those received directly through commercial banks edged up to 21.7 percent from 10.7 per cent in the same month last year.

While the average monthly cost of sending NZD$200.00 to Samoa fell to 7.80 per cent from 10.19 per cent in the previous year while the average cost of sending AUD$200.00 to Samoa also decreased to 6.82 per cent from 8.29 per cent over the year.

“The ongoing closure of Samoa’s international borders solely for safeguarding and protection of its people from the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and the push for increasing vaccination for eligible population (with the exception of repatriation flights for returning Samoan citizens only) has continued to severely affect the tourism industry," the report said. 

“Therefore, there were no tourist arrivals and earnings recorded for the 18th consecutive month.”