Money in Tonga

I decided to look into the economy in Tonga so I can have an idea of how much groceries or clothing or supplies will cost. I am also interested in their money and other forms of exchange, if any. Most of the small country's money is gathered in the hands of the nobles and royals. A lot of other exchanges are non-monetary. People trade things like crops and animals. In the past few years, many of the shops have begun to be owned by the Chinese. This occurrence decreases the amount of money in Tonga, leading to harder economic times. Coconuts, vanilla beans, and bananas are grown there and sold around the world. Tourists are relied on heavily as income and make up a significant part of the economic sector. Overall, the economy is stable because the people are accustomed to trading the way they do.

The Tongan form of money is called pa'anga and seniti. Seniti are coins that represent different amounts of money: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 seniti. 100 seniti makes 1 pa'anga. Seniti used to be always represented by coins, but more recently, paper bank notes are used. The pa'anga were issued as coins in denominations of 1 and 2. Eventually, however, people gradually stopped using the coins and the pa'anga is now represented by paper. 1 U.S. dollar is the equivalent of 1.69 pa'anga. Regardless, things are a bit more expensive there, but living with a host family will help. I only plan on spending money for rent, food, and a few souvenirs, so money should not be a problem, especially if I can understand what is a good price for different things.