Business

The economy of Samoa relies heavily on remittances form Samoans living in other countries, subsistence agriculture, fishing and development aid. Over 65% of the labour force works in the agricultural sector which provides 90% of all exports.

Commercial fishing, fisheries and fish farming accounted for over 40% of the value of exports in 2005 but the country is vulnerable to climatic fluctuations such as El Nino which badly affected the fishing sector in 2002/3. Bananas and coconuts, coconut cream, coconut oil, and copra are Samoa's main agricultural exports.

The government has restructured the economy and encouraged diversification where it can. One factory in the Foreign Trade Zone employs 3,000 people to manufacture electrical harnesses for cars. These are being made for a motor vehicle assembly plant in Australia.

There is good growth in the tourism sector. The 100,000 tourists who visited Samoa in 2005 accounted for 25% of GDP. The Samoan Government has called for deregulation of the financial sector, encouragement of investment and continued fiscal discipline