Total Government outstanding debt as at the end of March 2022 quarter stood at $951.3 million.
Of the total outstanding debt, $477.4 million (50.2 percent) are with multilateral institutions mainly World Bank and ADB, $471.1 million (49.5 percent) are with Bilateral partners like the Government of the People’s Republic of China
(PRC) and Japan (JICA) with the remaining 0.3 percent consisting of domestic loans with our financial institutions.
This is confirmed in the Samoa Bureau of Statistics Government finance report for the quarter ending March, 2022 of the current financial year.
The Government Expenditure for the March 2022 quarter recorded was $171.2 million, with operating expenses at $164.0 million, and $7.2 million for the Acquisition of Non-Financial Assets.
“Total expenditure decreased by $24.9 million or 12.7 percent compared to its corresponding quarter in 2021 Aggregated Operating Expenses for the quarter ended March 2022 were $164.0 million, an increase of 7.5 percent or $11.4 million compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
“Of that amount, 40.3 percent was spent on the Compensation of employees amounting to $66.1 million. Use of goods and services recorded a total of $39.3 million with a 23.9 percent. Grants to other government units amounted to $37.5 million or 22.8 percent with Social benefits at $10.7 million or 6.5 percent.
The remaining 6.4 percent was spent on Interest, Subsidies, and Other Expenses with amounts of $5.2 million, $3.6 million $1.7 million respectively.”
The report further says the government’s total expenditure stood at $171.2 million, reduced by $24.9 million or 12.7 per cent on a yearly basis.
The four main sectors on which the government spent the majority of its resources were, General Public Services, Economic Affairs, Health, and Education with respective shares of 22.2 percent, 19.0 percent, 18.2 percent and 17.0
percent of the total government expenditure.
Public Order and Safety sector received also spent $14.8 million, 8.7 percent of the overall spending. The remaining 14.9 percent (equivalent to $25.5 million) were spent on services like Social Protection, Environmental Protection, Housing and Community Amenities, and Recreation, culture and religion.
