Pacific Magazine > Daily News

Palau Federal Funding Per Capita Highest Among Freely Associated States

By Giff Johnson on Majuro
Sunday: August 10, 2008

Both Palau and the Marshall Islands received their lowest level of federal program funding in six years during fiscal year 2007, according to the organization OMB Watch’s web site that tracks federal spending in all 50 U.S. states, territories and the freely associated states.

But Palau receives by far the most federal funding per capita of the three freely associated states.

According to financial data posted this week, the Marshall Islands received approximately $11.1 million in federal funding in fiscal year 2007 (October 2006 through September 2007). This was a 57 percent drop from FY2006, when the RMI received $19.3 million. (The web site posted financial data for the first three quarters of FY2007, so the total is extrapolated based on the first three quarters' funding level.)

Last year, however, Palau’s federal funding level dropped to just $4.6 million compared to the $14.3 million it netted in FY2006. This was also a six-year low.

These federal funds include everything from airport improvement grants and health and education funding to USDA Rural Development housing loans and grants to individual local residents. The web site lists the amount of every grant provided, including the names of the individual recipients — both agencies and people — dating back to FY2000.

The OMB Watch data shows that for the eight years from FY2000 to FY2007, the Marshall Islands received $111.3 million in federal funding (not including funding from the Compact of Free Association). That’s an average of $13.9 million a year.

The lowest federal funding level received was in FY2001 of $7.5 million; the highest in FY03 of $19.8 million.

The eight year funding total for the Marshall Islands amounts to $2,061.13 per person; the FY2007 funding level was $205.83 per capita (based on 54,000 people).

On a per capita basis, the Marshall Islands federal grant funding compares favorably to that obtained by the Federated States of Micronesia.

The FSM received $244.7 million over the same eight period — more than double what the RMI received. But the FSM has a population estimated at 110,000, or just about double that of RMI’s.
That produced a per capita funding amount for the FSM of $2,224.54 over eight years, and the FY2007 federal funding amount of about $21.5 million produced a per person amount of $195.85, slightly lower than the RMI’s FY per capita figure.

Palau, however, netted more federal funding on a per capita basis than either the RMI or the FSM, though its total funding received was lower than both.

Palau over the eight-year period received $107.5 million, which on a per capita basis translates to $5,974.37 — or nearly triple the RMI and FSM figures.

In FY2007, Palau’s federal funding level dipped to $4.6 million compared to the $14.3 million it netted in FY2006. Still, the $4.6 million produced a per capita amount of $256.06 (based on 18,000) people.

www.fedspending.org