2 Apr 2010

American Samoa banks point to effects of lost cannery revenue

4:31 pm on 2 April 2010

Commercial banks in American Samoa have told the government that federal funding is disguising the real impact of the closure of one of the territory's fish canneries.

Managers for the Bank of Hawaii and the ANZ told the House they'd prepared for the closure of Samoa Packing's Chicken of the Sea and are anticipating the closure of the territory's other cannery plant.

But they expressed concern at the government's lack of action on creating permanent jobs for the people the cannery employed.

Hobbs Lowson, of the Bank of Hawaii, says the territory's receiving a lot of United States funding, through the stimulus package and the disaster relief effort.

"I just don't see a long-term plan in place to adress the issues that exist beyond these funding sources because they will be temporary in nature."

The Bank of Hawaii's Hobbs Lowson.