An audit report of the American Samoa Government Employees Retirement Fund has found it lost 19.4 million US dollars between 2010 and 2011.
The audited financial statement for the Fund for the year ended September 30, 2011 records total net assets of 181.7 million, down from 202.1 million the year before.
This represent a 9.7 per cent loss from the prior year and is primarily due to a drop in the fair value of investments during 2011.
The audit report says Fiscal year 2011 proved to be a challenging investment market both domestically and overseas. The fears of the Euro and US debt crisis had a strong impact on all asset classes.
International investments for the Retirement Fund dropped from 92.8 million in 2010 to 86.5 in 2011, while domestic equity funds dropped from 58 million to 41.5 million in the same period.
Fixed income funds rose by 5.1 million, jumping from 19.9 million in 2010 to 25 million last year.
1,640 retirees and beneficiaries were receiving benefits in 2011, just 48 more than in 2010, and there were a total of 4,461 active employees contributing to the Fund, which is down form the 2010 total of 4,559.
The financial statement was audited by independent auditors Moss Adams of Seattle, Washington.
