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| Chart of personal transfers from the EU to Albania in the years 2013 - 2020 |
Personal transfers that residents in European Union countries sent to Albania in 2020 marked a record of 1.03 billion euros, according to the latest Eurostat data.
According to the Eurostat definition, most personal transfers consist of remittances sent by migrants to their country of origin, local media writes.
Although it was a pandemic year, with significant travel restrictions, in 2020 was marked the highest level of these transfers to Albania, since 2013, when Eurostat reports data for our country. According to Albanian market players, this tendency is also related to the fact that due to physical travel restrictions, many have been forced to use formal channels to send money to their relatives. Another fraud is related to the help that children abroad were sent to parents or other relatives to cover the cost of out-of-pocket expenses for Covid-19 treatment.
Compared to 2013, personal transfers have increased by 33%.
The increase in personal transfers of Albanians living in the EU coincides with the significant increase in the number of persons who have obtained residence permits in the EU in recent years and the new immigration cycle of the last decade. According to other Eurostat data, from 2008 to 2020, there are about 700 thousand Albanian citizens who have received a residence permit in one of the countries of the European Union.
The highest number of residence permits was issued in the period 2008-2009, with 97.3 thousand and 83.9 thousand, respectively, as a result of high emigration in the early 2000s. Then the influx came down, dropping to about 30 thousand in 2013. After this period, the revival of the immigration cycle, which is shown by the significant increase in asylum applications brought another increase in residence permits, which culminated in 2019, with about 60.4 thousand.
Personal transfers to the EU
In 2020, remittances from EU residents to non-EU countries, referred to as personal transfers, amounted to € 34.1 billion, an increase of 3% compared to € 33.2 billion in 2019. Most personal transfers consist of remittances from emigrants to their country of origin. EU inflows amounted to 12.0 billion euros, a decrease of 6% compared to 12.8 billion euros recorded in 2019.
Exit from the EU has maintained an upward trend since 2015, growing by 33% since that year. But as inflows have remained constant, this has resulted in a growing negative balance of € 22.1 billion for the EU versus non-EU countries.