The scorecard
2025 promises · FAST under Laʻauli, since 16 September 2025. 54 promises, one square each. Tap a square to open the promise.
What the labels mean
- Kept
- The promise has been carried out in full, and a source shows it.
- Under way
- Work on the promise has started, and a source shows it, but it is not finished.
- No sign yet
- We have found no public sign of action on this promise so far.
- Broken
- The government has dropped the promise or done the opposite, and a source shows it.
Is it funded?
- No budget line: 1
Deadlines
Overdue (2):
- SAT$2 million a year for every district due 2026-07-01
- Districts choose their own projects through Fono Faavae due 2026-07-01
Coming due:
- SAT$300 million to restart Samoa Airways international flights due 2026-12-31
- New aircraft company flying by the end of 2026 due 2026-12-31
- Minimum wage of SAT$6 an hour due 2028-07-01
The 2021 scorecard
2021 promises · FAST under Fiamē, 24 May 2021 to September 2025. 49 promises; that term is over, so these labels are final.
What the labels mean
- Kept
- The promise has been carried out in full, and a source shows it.
- Partly kept
- Part of the promise has been carried out, but not all of it.
- Not kept
- The time given for the promise has passed, and it was not carried out.
- Broken
- The government has dropped the promise or done the opposite, and a source shows it.
Fiamē's government delivered its main cash and price promises to families, but many of its other promises were still unfinished when its term ended early 1313.
Fiamē's first budget, in September 2021, raised the pension from SAT$160 to SAT$200 a month, started a SAT$100 disability benefit, and cut power and water prices by 20% from 1 November 2021 123. Households kept the power discount, but the Electric Power Corporation lost SAT$54.8 million in a year, and the discount was removed for government in July 2023 and for other non-household customers in November 2023 456. Under its plan the minimum wage rose from SAT$3 to SAT$4.84 an hour by July 2025, and debt fell from 41.0% of GDP in 2021/22 to 21.2% in 2024/25 78. A 2025 change to the Constitution let about 100 waiting Land and Titles appeals be heard, but no anti-corruption agency was set up, the forensic audit covered only 13 of 30 projects, and the term ended early when Parliament voted down the budget 34 to 16 9101112.
The verdict
Pensions rose; tax, hospital and school promises stalled.
Of 54 FAST promises tracked, four are kept and ten under way; the kept ones are the pension and disability rises and a renamed ministry, and the money that reached families came through schemes Fiamē's government set up 12. The tax cuts, VAGST relief, free hospital care, free schooling, the SAT$50 million funds for power, water and farming and the SAT$100 million hotel fund have no budget line, while real GDP fell 1.6% and the budget runs a stated SAT$215.9 million cash deficit 31. District money, Cabinet-picked district chairs, the Samoa Observer ban and the Central Bank bill move money and decisions toward the governing party, and Samoa's press-freedom rank fell 15 places 4567.
What changed for families
-
SAT$300
a month, at 65 and for disability
Pension and disability benefit up to SAT$300
The senior benefit from age 65 and the disability benefit both rose to SAT$300 a month, with the first higher payments made on 17 November 2025 12. The May 2026 budget says they reach 13,000 pensioners and 2,875 people with disabilities; the earlier FAST government had set the pension at SAT$200 in 2021/22 and started the disability benefit at SAT$100 34.
Sources (4)
- Budget Address 2025/2026
- Pension and disability benefit increase in effect
- Budget Address 2026/2027
- Budget Address 2025/2026
-
SAT$500
a month for people 70 and over
SAT$500 a month from age 70
Since 1 July 2026, people aged 70 and over get SAT$500 a month instead of SAT$300, paid as SAT$250 a fortnight 1. The Prime Minister's office says more than 7,000 older people gain, a count from the government itself, while pensioners aged 65 to 69 stay on SAT$300 23.
Sources (3)
- Government Delivers on Key Social Commitments from 1 July 2026
- DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT FUNDS — FACTS, ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT FOR SAMOAN FAMILIES
- Budget Address 2026/2027
-
SAT$20 million
set aside for the child benefit
Child benefit funded, not yet paid
The government has set aside SAT$20 million for SAT$100 a month per child up to 35 months old, plus SAT$200 at birth, but the first payments are not due until January 2027 12. Talamua has reported two closing dates for registering: 30 November 2026 in a 31 July report, and 30 October 2026 for Upolu in a 24 September report 34.
Sources (4)
- DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT FUNDS — FACTS, ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT FOR SAMOAN FAMILIES
- Budget Address 2026/2027
- GOVT LAUNCHES Child Wellbeing Benefits Program
- Registrations Underway for Child Wellbeing Beneficiaries
-
105,669
people paid SAT$150 for school costs
SAT$150 each from district money
By 8 April 2026, 105,669 people had received the SAT$150 back-to-school payment through their district councils 12. It was paid out of the 2025/26 district grant money, and in the new SAT$2 million round Vaimauga 4 was the first district to qualify, by 15 October 2026 34.
Sources (4)
- More than $15M paid out in $150 school support
- DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT FUNDS — FACTS, ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT FOR SAMOAN FAMILIES
- Over 17,800 Receive Back-to-School Packages in Samoa
- Vaimauga 4 to receive $2 Million for District Development Projects
By area
Every promise, grouped by what it touches.
-
Cost of living and tax
All four FAST tax promises are stalled: the first SAT$15,000 a year is still the tax-free amount, the top PAYE and company tax rates are still 27%, and VAGST is still 15% on food after the May 2026 budget.
4 promises
+ 1 from 2021 -
Pay and jobs
The minimum wage has been SAT$5.24 an hour since 1 July 2026, but SAT$6.05 is not due until 1 July 2028 and SAT$1.84 of the rise from SAT$3 was set in 2024 and 2025 under Fiamē's government, while the public-service pay rise has been with the Remuneration Tribunal since February 2026 with no new pay scale confirmed.
2 promises
+ 6 from 2021 -
Pensions and benefits
The SAT$300 senior benefit from age 65 and the SAT$300 disability benefit have been paid since November 2025 and the SAT$500 benefit from age 70 since 1 July 2026, but the SAT$20 million child benefit pays nothing until January 2027, and the pregnancy allowance, low-income top-up, ACC refund, SNPF borrowing and retirement-age promises have not moved.
10 promises
+ 5 from 2021 -
Districts and villages
SAT$102 million a year is budgeted and the district councils have been in law since July 2026, but the first SAT$2 million district payment was still expected in November 2026, Cabinet picks the council chairs, and the IMF says the programme under-spends.
2 promises
+ 3 from 2021 -
Health
All six health promises are stalled: the SAT$22.50 nightly hospital charge has not changed, fee waivers for young children and older people were in place before the election, medicines ran short in 2026, there is no insurance scheme and no Tuanaʻimato hospital, and Salelologa got a private hospital on leased public land that paused a week after breaking ground on 14 September 2026.
6 promises
+ 4 from 2021 -
School
Tuition still rests on the SAT$18 million school grant that existed before the promise, the grant ran late in 2026, no school serves free lunches, no pre-school or mission teacher is on the government payroll, and the only step forward is a scholarship budget that rose from SAT$10 million to SAT$13 million.
6 promises
+ 3 from 2021 -
Power, water and fares
None of the three SAT$50 million promises for EPC, water and renewables has started; the budgets put SAT$5 million a year into rural connections and SAT$100 million into crisis fuel instead, three solar farms paid for by partners have not begun, and blackouts continued in 2026.
3 promises
+ 3 from 2021 -
Transport and infrastructure
One SAT$16.8 million cargo and vehicle ferry has been in service since September 2026 and Maota airport reopened on 8 October 2026, but the end-2026 airline target was withdrawn, there is no SAT$300 million for Samoa Airways in either budget, and there is no hotel fund or sports facilities programme.
6 promises
+ 7 from 2021 -
Land and custom
10,000 acres of STEC land moved between government bodies in 2026, and none of it had been confirmed as returned to villages or families by 20 October 2026.
1 promise
+ 3 from 2021 -
Farming and fishing
There is no SAT$50 million fund for export farmers or manufacturers, Development Bank lending has grown only to a SAT$15 million facility shared by farming, manufacturing and tourism, the poultry farm has no plan or cost, and exports keep falling.
4 promises
+ 2 from 2021 -
Family abroad
There is no diaspora office, new consulate or overseas ballot, Cabinet approved only an overseas-voting task force and pilot on 2 September 2026, and no visa agreement made by this government has been found.
4 promises
+ 4 from 2021 -
Clean government
The Ministry of Family and Social Affairs has run since 1 July 2026 and a drugs campaign has started, but nothing has been done on online abuse, and no separation-of-powers review, stock exchange, economic zone or carbon-credit sale has followed.
6 promises
+ 8 from 2021
How Samoa is doing
-
Economy and jobs
-
Daily life
-
Society
-
Government and the law
-
Development and the world
The national plan
Pathway for the Development of Samoa FY2021/22 to FY2025/26, July 2021 to June 2026: 88 indicators the plan set itself, each against its own baseline and target.
- 28Target met
- 53Off track
- 6No result published
- 1Not comparable
Projects
- 11Delivered and working
- 2On track, not finished
- 8Delivered with problems
- 12Delayed
- 1Abandoned
- 5No visible progress
The most serious failures
- Abandoned Aurora V inter-island ferryAbout SAT$20m spent, according to the Prime Minister; earlier price reports differ
- Delivered with problems District Development ProgrammeSAT$51m (2024/25); SAT$91.8m (2025/26); SAT$102m (2026/27) appropriated
- Delivered with problems Agriculture and Fisheries Productivity and Marketing Project (SAFPROM)US$15.92 million spent, out of a planned US$23.55 million. All of it was grant money [1][2]. Samoa's government also paid US$1.55 million of the remaining contract costs from its own funds after the project closed [2]. At the World Bank's rate of SAT$2.73 to US$1 (16 March 2026), the US$15.92 million is about SAT$43.5 million. That is a conversion done for this page. It is not a published tala total [1].
What the labels mean
Each promise gets two labels: was it kept, and is it good for families. Numbers like 1 link to the source for that sentence. How we judge →
Was the promise kept?2025 promises
2021 promises (FAST under Fiamē)
That term is over, so these labels are final.