Personal transfers of Portuguese emigrants are the highest at EU level
The highest inflows of personal transfers were recorded in Portugal (€3.6bn), ahead of Poland (€3.1bn), Romania (€2.8bn) and the United Kingdom. The largest deficit was witnessed in France (-€10.1bn).
Eurostat released this Thursday data on the flows of money sent by residents of the European Union to non-EU countries, referred to as personal transfers, which in 2017 amounted to €32.7bn, compared with €31.8bn in 2016.
Inflows of money sent to the EU countries totalled €10.7bn, resulting in a negative balance of -€22.0bn for the EU.
Portugal registered the highest inflow, of €3.6bn, achieving a surplus of +€3.0bn, as the total of intra-EU and extra-EU outflows amounted to €588m.
The data for Portugal refers to workers’ remittances exclusively.
Personal transfers are consisting of all current transfers in cash or in any kind between resident and non-resident households, with disregard for the source of income, the relationship between the households or the purpose of the transfer. As such, “the concept of personal transfers is seen to be broader than worker remittances”, the Eurostat shows.
The Eurostat also notes that the data for Portugal refers to workers’ remittances exclusively, with the only other country in the EU providing that limitation until the date of this release being Spain.