that contrasts with many global contexts where the situation was more like that in tonga eg ratha et al the reserve bank of tonga believed in that private remittances were unlikely ever to recover to the high level they had reached in highlighting the vulnerability of the country s economy to fluctuations in the global economy there was no obvious reason why they should recover in samoa at least by early remittances had returned to normal precrisis levels and perhaps exceeded them as some overseas samoans compensated for the previous difficult period