The Minister of Finance, Honorable Lautimuia Uelese Vaai, participated in the “Building Fiscal Resilience in Small Island States – High Level Meeting” held from the 17th - 19th March 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.
This inaugural meeting was hosted by the World Bank and the Government of Japan, and brought together Ministers of Finance and senior officials from Pacific Island Countries; and experts from the World Bank, IMF, and the Government of Japan and Iceland. The forum provided the opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas and strategies to strengthen fiscal resilience. It also marked the launch of the World Bank’s Fiscal Resilience Program which will provide support for fiscal reform and efficiency improvements, strengthening of fiscal buffers, and building analytical capacity to assess, mitigate, and respond to shocks.
Hon. Minister Lautimuia had the opportunity to speak on Samoa’s experience in building strong fiscal frameworks. His remarks highlighted how this is guided by the National Planning Framework and ensures the alignment of development planning and policy initiatives at all levels – supported by the implementation of fiscal rules and contextualised recommendations from regular stocktakes of the economy – ultimately leading to fiscal and economic resilience. He also noted the unique vulnerabilities faced by SIDS including external shocks, climate change and disasters, and global financial volatility. Samoa emphasized how this therefore calls for greater access to concessional finance for SIDS to support long-term investments, stronger global and regional partnerships to enable preparation for and recovery from shocks, and more flexible and accessible climate finance to protect our economies from disasters.
The World Bank and Government representatives have agreed to establishing effective modes of collaboration and sharing of international experiences to advance fiscal resilience; taking on board the areas identified by participants in which support is needed, and how the Fiscal Resilience Program can be tailored to provide that support. The Ministry of Finance will be the focal point for Samoa in advancing this work, facilitating relevant assistance, and assessing progress to ensure alignment to national priorities.