Private Sector Assessment June 2008Project Number: Samoa: Consolidating Reform for Faster Economic Growth © 2008 Asian Development Bank All rights reserved. This report was prepared by staff and consultants of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The analyses and assessments contained herein do not necessarily reflect the views of ADB, its Board of Directors, or the governments its members represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility of any consequences of their use. The term “country,” as used in the context of ADB, refers to a member of ADB and does not imply any view on the part of ADB as to the member’s sovereignty or independent status. This report was prepared for ADB by Paul Holden of the Enterprise Research Institute, Gunnison, Colorado, USA, and Laure Darcy, consultant, under the supervision of Winfried Wicklein, Senior Private Sector Development Specialist, ADB, Pacific Liaison and Coordination Office, Sydney, Australia. Asian Development Bank 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines Tel (63-2) 632-4444 Fax (63-2) 636-2444 www.adb.org Asian Development Bank. 2008. Samoa: Private Sector Assessment—Consolidating Reform for Faster Growth. Manila. CONTENTS Page FIGURES, TABLES, AND BOXES iv ABBREVIATIONS v SAMOA PRIVATE SECTOR ASSESSMENT: A SUMMARY OF BINDING CONSTRAINTS AND POLICY ISSUES vi I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. BACKGROUND 4 A. Structure of the Economy 4 B. Growth Performance 5 C. Prices 6 D. Public Sector Finances 6 E. The Financial Sector 7 F. Balance of Payments 8 G. Remittances and Emigration 8 III. BINDING CONSTRAINTS TO GROWTH AND POLICY INITIATIVES 10 A. Background 10 B. Binding Constraints Issues 11 C. Costs of Doing Business: The Doing Business Indicators 12 D. The Role of the State in the Economy 12 E. State-Owned Enterprise Reform 22 F. Property Rights and Land Issues 30 G. Financial Markets in Samoa 32 H. The Legal Framework for Commercial Activity 33 I. Agriculture and Fishing 37 J. Foreign Investment Regulation 42 K. Public-Private Dialogue and Cooperation 45 L. Other Issues 46 IV. CONCLUSION 50 V. BIBLIOGRAPHY 52 FIGURES, TABLES, AND BOXES FIGURES Figure 1: Structure of the Samoan Economy 5 Figure 2: Samoa Growth Trends 6 Figure 3: Domestic Credit to the Private Sector 7 Figure 4: Comparative Foreign Direct Investment 43 TABLES Table 1: A Breakdown of Samoa’s Economic Sectors 4 Table 2: Gross Domestic Product and Growth Rates 5 Table 3: World Bank Doing Business Indicators for Samoa 12 Table 4: Private Sector Participation in Sectors of Infrastructure 14 Table 5: Transportation Service Providers 21 Table 6: A Summary of SOEs’ Audited Financial Statements for FYs2006 and 2007 25 Table 7: Community Service Obligations of State-Owned Enterprises 26 Table 8: Gross Tourism Revenues and Tourist Arrivals 47 BOXES Box 1: Crowding Out of Private Sector Investment 19 Box 2: Suggested Guiding Principles for the Provision of Community Service 27 Obligations ABBREVIATIONS ADB – Asian Development Bank ADSL – asymmetrical digital subscriber line ASC – Agricultural Stores Corporation BOT – build-operate-transfer bps – bits per second CSO – community service obligation DBO – design-build-own EEZ – exclusive economic zone EPC – Electric Power Corporation FIAS – Foreign Investment Advisory Service FY – fiscal year GDP – gross domestic product GSM – global system for mobile communications IMF – International Monetary Fund ISP – Internet service provider KwH – kilowatt hours LHD – left hand drive MW – megawatt MWTI – Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure PPP – public-private partnership RHD – right hand drive SAA – Samoa Airport Authority SBC – Samoa Broadcasting Corporation SBEC – Small Business Enterprise Centre SOE – state-owned enterprise SOEMD – State-Owned Enterprise Monitoring Division SPA – Samoa Ports Authority SPBD – South Pacific Business Development Foundation SLC – Samoa Land Corporation SSC – Samoa Shipping Corporation SSS – Samoa Shipping Services STA – Samoa Tourist Authority STEC – Samoa Trust Estates Corporation SWA – Samoa Water Authority TA – technical assistance TDMA – time division multiple access UNCITRAL – United Nations Commission on International Trade Law UNDP – United Nations Development Programme VAGST – value-added and goods and services tax NOTE The fiscal year (FY) of the Government and its agencies ends on 31 May. FY before a calendar year denotes the year in which the fiscal year ends, e.g., FY2000 ends on 31 May 2000. SAMOA PRIVATE SECTOR ASSESSMENT: A SUMMARY OF BINDING CONSTRAINTS AND POLICY ISSUES Samoa has already implemented substantial reforms. Over the past 10 years, policies Five-Year Moving Average of GDP Growth 1990-2007 have: 5.0 • Rationalized the trade regime, • Achieved fiscal stability, 4.0 • Reduced inflation, and 3.0 • Begun to reduce the role of 2.0 government. 1.0 Reform has been rewarded. Percentage 0.0 4 The result has been sharply 93 94 95 -1.0 1990 1991 1992 19 19 19 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 200 2005 2006 2007 improved economic growth. -2.0 Further reform is underway. -3.0 • State-owned enterprises Year GDP growth (SOEs) have been Source: Asian Development Bank. corporatized, with standards of operation and accountability established. • Some Ministries have begun contracting out services with notable success, particularly the Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure. Productivity has improved nearly more than 400% as a result. • The international routes of Polynesian Air have been sold to Polynesian Blue. Fares have declined by nearly 50%, and tourist arrivals have increased substantially. • A new mobile network operator, Digicel, has been licensed in Samoa. The cost of calls has declined, and service availability has expanded. • Legal reform has begun, but it is still incomplete. Most of the necessary macroeconomic reforms have now been completed. The binding constraints are now primarily microeconomic in nature and should be the primary focus of policy. Major Constraints and Policy Priorities 1. The state still plays too large a role in the economy and raises the costs of doing business. • The state accounts for over 40% of the country’s gross domestic product. It still owns a significant number of enterprises, some of which are protected by monopoly privileges. • The poor quality of infrastructure raises the costs of doing business, damaging competitiveness. • Many SOEs are inefficient, costly, and often provide poor service quality, resulting in high costs for business. • In particular, unreliable and high cost electricity supplied by Electric Power Corporation (EPC), the state-owned power company, is a major problem for businesses, many of which need their own generators because of frequent power outages. Private providers may only operate in emergencies. Given the substantial private generation capacity available, allowing private generation without restriction is an urgent priority. • Most provisions of the Public Bodies Act designed to improve corporate governance have yet to be implemented. • The nature and costs of SOEs’ community service obligations (CSOs) are not fully known. This requires actions to: • Accelerate implementation of the Government’s SOE Ownership and Divestiture Policy, which advocates reducing the role of SOEs in the economy by expanding private sector participation. • Develop a new Electricity Act, allowing expanded private sector participation in the electricity sector, while expanding the capacity and governance of EPC through technical assistance. • Implement the Public Administration Reform Plan, supporting further contracting out by ministries and SOEs. • Calculate the costs of CSOs and explicitly include them in SOE budgets. Explore alternative means of fulfilling CSOs through competitive bidding for output-based subsidies. 2. Property rights, the foundation of development and prosperity, are not well defined because of weaknesses in the land leasing framework. This affects large areas of the economy, particularly financing, agriculture, and tourism. This requires actions to: • Advance the timetable to make the land leasing framework more predictable and to reduce the time and costs of obtaining leases. • Eliminate the bias against Samoan nationals leasing land for agriculture. • Develop and implement a formal policy for making the substantial land holdings of the state available to private investors. 3. The financial market is “thin” and the cost of finance in Samoa is high. Weak property rights, the lack of a collateral framework, difficulty in collecting debts, and poor credit history on borrowers hampers financial market deepening. This requires actions to: Domestic Credit to the Private Sector, 2006 • Finalize the Personal Property (% of GDP) Securities Act as well as design and establish the 70 60 personal property securities 50 40 registry to improve the 30 collateral framework, including 20 Percentage 10 debt collection. 0 • Extend the availability of credit Fiji Islands Papua Samoa Solomon Tonga Vanuatu New Islands information by promoting the Guinea establishment of a full-fledged Country credit bureau. Source: World Bank 2008. • Enter into agreements with credit bureaus in other Pacific countries, including those in Australia and New Zealand, to extend the availability of credit information region wide. 4. Commercial law reform is incomplete, sustaining high transactions costs for doing business. This requires actions to: • Proceed as quickly as possible with the work that has commenced on setting