According to data consulted by the Lusa agency, Angolan workers in Portugal sent 9.35 million euros in 2019, a figure that fell 12 percent to 8.22 million euros last year, a year characterized by a strong economic slowdown motivated by the covid-19 pandemic.
Conversely, the Portuguese working in Angola sent 245.5 million euros last year to Portugal, which represents a 1.1 percent drop from the 248.3 million sent in 2019.
As usual, Banco de Portugal data for African Portuguese Speaking Countries (PALOP) only explain the figures for Angola, but the relationship remains close.
Thus, the Portuguese working in the PALOP countries sent 253.1 million euros last year, which represents a drop of 1.3 percent compared to the 256.5 sent in 2019.
Portuguese-speaking Africans working in Portugal sent 35.7 million euros to their countries of origin during 2020, a figure that is 8.9 percent less than the 39.2 million sent in the previous year.
Globally, remittances from Portuguese emigrants fell 1.3 percent last year compared to 2019, to 3,612.8 million euros, falling for the first time since at least 2010, according to data from the Bank of Portugal.
According to the same source, the reduction in the value of remittances in 2020 to 3,612.8 million happens for the first time since, at least, 2010, the year in which emigrants sent 2,425 million euros to Portugal, but above the value recorded in 2018, when 3604 million euros were sent by Portuguese workers abroad.
According to the numbers of the regulator and financial supervisor, available on the bank's website, Portuguese emigrants sent 335.6 million euros to their country of origin in December last year, representing a drop of 4.3 percent , with no definite trend towards falls or rises in 2020 compared to 2019.
Data for December 2020, the latest available, show that remittances sent to Portugal decreased from 351 million euros in December 2019 to 335.6 million in the last month of last year, marked by the strong slowdown in economic activity due to the covid-19 pandemic.
