23 Jul 2013

American Samoa gets smaller budget

3:04 pm on 23 July 2013

The American Samoa Government has presented a budget that is eight percent smaller than last year's.

The budget of just over 456 million US dollars is now before the Legislature for review.

The governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga says the cut of nearly 40 million dollars is mainly due to the impact of the federal government sequestration, affecting federal grants for local departments and agencies.

He says it also reflects the phasing out of federally funded projects for the 2009 tsunami and earthquake that have now been completed.

The government expects that local revenue will reach nearly 109 million dollars, up 20 million on last year.