Samoa’s export earning markedly increased by 21 per cent, the Central Bank of Samoa (C.B.S.) reports.
In its latest Selected Economic Indicators Report, the Bank attributes this jump to higher receipts from fuel re-exports, beer, nonu juices, taro, copra meal and coconut, to name a few.
“Import payments also rose by 4.0 per cent, which led to a 2.5 per cent (or) $1.8 million hike in merchandise trade deficit to $75.0 million in the month under review,” the report reads.
“Private remittances bounced back by 1.2 per cent (by) $0.4 million to $31.5 million.
“On the other hand, visitor arrivals contracted by 1.1 percent while tourism earnings rebounded modestly by 17.7 per cent to $29.9 million due to a sharp increase in the average tourist expenditure for August 2014.”
Consequently, the C.B.S. says gross official foreign reserves fell by 4.7 per cent to $338.7 million, representing a monthly overall deficit of $16.7 million in the balance of payments.
“This was equivalent to 5.1 months of import cover, down from 5.4 months a month ago,” it says.
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“The overall volume supplied at the local markets around Apia expanded by 2.3 per cent reflecting higher supplies of ta’amu, breadfruit, yam, head cabbage, tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, cucumber and pumpkin.
“As a result, the overall price index narrowed by 5.4 percent.”
Looking now to the economy on the global stage, the United States (U.S) Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P) growth rate was revised upwards in the second quarter of 2014 while economic activity weakened somewhat in the Euro area.
“The New Zealand economy continued to expand following strong construction activity and business investment while Australia’s economy also grew moderately,” the report reads.
On the domestic front, the Bank says the weighted average official interest rate remained unchanged at 0.15 percent from the previous month.
“On market interest rates, the weighted average lending rate narrowed 12 basis points to 9.99 per cent while the average deposit rate expanded to 3.02 per cent,” it says.
“Consequently, the commercial banks’ interest rate spread contracted to 6.97 per cent in the month under review.”
Furthermore, the report says commercial banks’ credit to the private sector and public institutions combined went up by 16.2 per cent to $791.7 million.
“The government’s net position with the financial system slipped by 2.1 per cent to $180.2 million, reflecting a cash deficit of $3.8 million,” the Bank reports.
“However, total ‘net domestic assets’ expanded by 2.3 percent (or) $11.2 million to $492.5 million despite a moderate $14.3 million decrease in ‘net foreign assets’, leading to a $3.1 million contraction in total money supply.
“The overall nominal value of the Samoa Tala weakened by 0.06 percent as (the) Tala depreciated against the U.S. dollar and the Australian dollar but appreciated against the New Zealand dollar and the Euro.”
The latest Consumer Price Index (C.P.I.) data released by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (S.B.S.) showed that the overall headline C.P.I. fell by 0.2 percent from the preceding month but was 0.2 percent higher than its level in August 2013, the C.B.S. says.
“Nevertheless, the annual average headline inflation rate rose slightly to -1.0 percent from -1.1 percent in the previous month but lower than -0.9 percent in August 2013,” the report reads.
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