Samoa
In Samoa, PSDI is supporting reform initiatives that make the country an increasingly enabling place to do business and an attractive place to invest.
PSDI is working with the Government of Samoa to:
-
Increase access to finance through secured transaction reform and the procurement, design, and implementation of an accompanying online registry;
-
Support the commercial strengthening of the government-owned Development Bank of Samoa;
-
Simplify business laws and registration processes, including providing support for an update of Samoa’s Companies Act Regulations, and assisting with the procurement and installation of a new electronic registry. PSDI has also commenced implementation of a business law simplification package;
-
Strengthen competition and consumer protection by reviewing Samoa’s competition and consumer protection policy and law needs;
-
Strengthen state-owned enterprise policy, performance, governance and transparency; and
- Support reform through advocacy and analysis, including a private sector assessment published in October 2015.
Resources and Spending
Each PSDI work area, bar economic empowerment of women, is represented in the allocations of the $2.83 million spent in Samoa to date, indicative of the wide range of reforms the country has pursued to improve its business environment. Financing growth initiatives have received 29% of this funding, enabling the procurement of a personal property securities registry. Business law reform has received the second most funding, with the $641,741 allocated going towards creation of an online companies registry and recent evaluations of the company law and registry expansion opportunities.
On this website, $ refers to US dollars unless otherwise stated.
For detailed information on PSDI activities in Samoa, download the April 2020 PSDI Country Overview here.
Samoa at a glance
Faster business registrations
38% average increase
Private sector assessment
Secured transaction reform
Latest News
Lending institutions in Samoa will be able to provide credit to more businesses following the launch of an online registry that makes it easier to accept movable property — such as machinery, accounts receivable, or inventory — as collateral.
APIA, SAMOA (27 February 2017) — Lending institutions in Samoa will be able to provide credit to more businesses following the launch of an online registry that makes it easier to accept movable property — such as machinery, accounts receivable, or inventory — as collateral.
Reforms to state owned enterprises (SOEs) can unleash productivity and efficiencies in an economy. However, such reforms can bring pain and controversy—so-called “adjustment costs”.
A new PSDI case study examines Samoa’s success in contracting out its road building and maintenance work. In 2002, Samoa’s Public Works Department was radically restructured, changing from a public construction agency to a contract manager with private sector. As Creating Jobs in Samoa through Public-Private Partnerships identifies, the results of this reform have been dramatic. They include: • the development of a dynamic and competitive construction industry; • the creation of more than...
When shopping for fresh produce at Apia’s fish or fruit markets, the new competition act will help consumers get quality produce at a fair price. Samoa is set to become a fairer and safer place to do business and to purchase goods and services after the government passed the Competition and Consumer Act 2016 in January. “An effective competition framework with appropriate protections for consumers sets the stage for sustainable growth and...
PSDI's Samoa private sector assessment, Reform Renewed, has been launched in Apia. The report looks at constraints to investment and entrepreneurship. It recommends reforms that will benefit the private sector by improving productivity, through which it projects a return for Samoa to sustained high rates of economic growth. “ADB, through its Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative in particular, has recently partnered with the Government of Samoa on a number of reforms, including secured transactions, electronic...
Key Publications
