The Bureau of Economic Analysis released estimates of gross domestic product for American Samoa for 2017, in addition to estimates of GDP by industry and compensation by industry for 2016. These estimates were developed under the Statistical Improvement Program funded by the Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Revised estimates of GDP for 2015 and 2016, as well as revised estimates of GDP by industry and compensation by industry for 2015, are also presented in this release.
Gross Domestic Product for 2017
The estimates of GDP for American Samoa show that real GDP—GDP adjusted to remove price changes—decreased 5.3 percent in 2017 after decreasing 2.7 percent in 2016. For comparison, real GDP for the United States (excluding the territories) increased 2.2 percent in 2017 after increasing 1.6 percent in 2016.
The decline in the American Samoa economy reflected decreases in exports of goods and government spending. These decreases were partly offset by a decrease in imports of goods, which is a subtraction item in the calculation of GDP.
Exports of goods decreased 22.8 percent primarily due to a decrease in exports of canned tuna and related products. One of two tuna canneries located in American Samoa closed in December 2016.
Government spending also decreased, reflecting a continued decline in investment spending by the territorial government. Major infrastructure projects including the Satala Power Plant and the Ta’u solar microgrid were complete or nearly complete by the end of 2016.
For more information, read the full report.