Parliament endorses Government’s $964m Budget 2022/2023

By Lagi Keresoma

APIA, SAMOA – 30 JUNE 2022:  It was in the evening yesterday when Parliament passed the 2022/2023 Budget Estimates after a week of heated debate.

On the theme “Inspiring Growth through an Inclusive and Resilient Recovery for Samoa” the Minister for Finance Mulipola Anarosa Molio’o responded to issues raised by MPs on the high cost of living, the drop in revenues, national debt & loan repayments, health, education, domestic violence and Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

She also highlighted the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the rising cost of fuel due the war in Europe, the high freight costs and Government’s commitment to address these issues.

However, much was said by MP’s about the $1million District Development Project which Mulipola said is Governments response to these challenges.

Mulipola said Government’s approach is to decentralize developments under the $1m project which is in-line with the Government’s focus on social and Human Development as contained in the Pathway for Development launched earlier this year.

She said it is the responsibility of the Government to initiate ways to generate new revenues for Samoa and to ensure that no one is left behind when it comes to development hence the Government initiative for districts involvement in the implementation of the projects they identify.

As noted in the debate, as the country’s’ GDP climbs, so is poverty.

“The $1m District Development Project is one of the ways the Government is using to address economic equity and to reduce poverty,” she said.

Opposition MP for Sagaga 2, Maulolo Tavita Amosa who supports the project, said there is a major transformation involved in the project and there has to be a sense of ownership by the districts of the projects to ensure success.

The Minster of Finance and the Minister of Social Development signing the funding agreement for one of the 51 districts under the District Development Project.

Need to Change Development priorities and focus
Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa who returned from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda, Africa, arrived in Parliament time before the budget went through its second reading.

Briefing Parliament on her first overseas official visit as Prime Minister since her Government took over in July 2021, she talked about the dialogue and shared experience of world leaders on the lessons learnt from COVID-19.

The first lesson she said was the need for self-sufficiency in basic food supply. With the war between Russia and Ukraine, the disruption of the grain supply as staple for countries in Africa threats food security in those countries.

Just back home from her first official visit as PM since taking over as Prime Minister in July 2021, Fiame Naomi Mataafa said there is a need to refocus the Development Framework to meet the challenges exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

When Covid lockdowns disrupted shipping and increased imported food stuffs, many people in Samoa went back to agriculture to ensure basic food security.

Secondly, with the pandemic and the threat of new virus in the future, the priority is heath protection and she quoted Samoa’s vaccination rates now above 90% coverage. Her concern is the ability of the health system to cope in the event of a major outbreak.

Fiame said the lessons learnt from isolation caused by the Covid pandemic, is the need to refocus the Development Framework in order to meet the challenges exposed by the pandemic that brought major economic investments of small islands such as Samoa in industries such as tourism to its knees.

Already, the Samoan Government is embarking on a similar strategy through the $1m District Development Project with a major focus on agriculture and fisheries.

The Governments Talomua program is one measure taken to ensure self-sufficiency and food security.

During the budget debate, one Opposition MP said that Samoan people prefer rice to taro, but that was tested when the borders closed and Samoa was without rice for sometime.

“When there is shortage of rice supply, we are in trouble. So do we grow rice or return to our staples through agriculture,” said Fiame.

So far 34 districts out of 51 have already signed the funding agreements and have received ST$200,000 for the establishment phase of District Development Project. The Second Phase will be the $1million tala funding of projects identified and to be managed by the districts offices themselves.