Romanians working abroad send record amount to the country

Romanians working abroad sent EUR 2.45 billion to Romania last year. This was the highest level after 2010 and the fourth highest level in EU, according to EU’s statistical office Eurostat. The amounts sent by the Romanian diaspora increased by 12.5% over 2015. However, they remained below the pre-crisis level. In 2008, Romanians sent EUR 5.15 billion to the country. Portugal ranked first in EU last year for the total amount received from its diaspora, with EUR 3.3 billion. It was followed by Poland with EUR 3 billion, the UK with EUR 2.5 billion, and Romania. The largest surpluses in personal transfers were recorded in Poland, Portugal (EUR 2.8 billion) and Romania (EUR 2.2 billion) in 2016. These included the money received from abroad minus the money sent abroad. The largest deficits were seen in France (- EUR 9.4 billion), Great Britain (- EUR 4.6 billion), Germany (- EUR 4.2 billion) and Italy (- EUR 4 billion). Personal transfers are all the transfers of money between resident and non-resident households, without taking into account the source of money and the relationship between households or the purpose of transfers. editor@romania-insider.com