The Chairman of American Samoa's Chamber of Commerce says he is not very optimistic about the chances of the territory's economy improving this year.
David Robinson says since the middle of last year, the economy has taken a dramatic turn for the worse and there haven't been any signs of things getting better since.
However, he says since taking office, the new territorial government has moved quickly to improve the business atmosphere.
But he says people are finding it difficult to stretch their dollar, particularly when inflation and food and electricity prices continue to increase.
"It's very difficult for us, particularly at the present time, when globally a lot of economies are finding it difficult to make any progress. It's difficult in poor global economic conditions for us to find investors who are prepared to come along and spend a lot of money with us here."
David Robinson says it is going to take some time before any positive change is seen in the economy.
