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| Source: Monitor |
The money that emigrants bring to their relatives has marked a historic record, at least since 2008, according to data from the Bank of Albania.
According to the Bank, for the first half of the year, remittances from emigrants reached 444 million euros, an increase of 18% compared to the same period a year earlier.
This level is 5.3% higher even than January-June 2019, which until now held the record with 424 million euros.
After that year, remittances began to steadily decline, reflecting the gradual departure of emigrants from their home country, which usually occurs after 15-20 years, as they create their families and gradually sever ties with their home country.
However, since 2017, remittances have started to rise again, following the new cycle of emigration (in 2016, there was also a record level of asylum applications at around 60,000).
After a reduction until 2020, influenced by the pandemic, 2022 marked a new peak in emigration, with 30,000 requests for asylum, most of them in the United Kingdom.
In recent years, alongside traditional channels like Italy and Greece, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have also become new corridors for emigration.
Local money transfer operators have said that Germany and England are new corridors, compared to the traditional ones, and have shown better trends in sending money to their relatives in Albania.
Other data from Eurostat show that the Albanian population living abroad is steadily increasing, which is also sustaining remittances.
According to Eurostat, in 2022, around 74,000 Albanian citizens (73,858) received residence permits in one of the EU countries. Compared to the previous year, the number of permits increased by 34%.
Meanwhile, this is the highest figure recorded since 2010, clearly indicating a growing trend of people leaving the country with the intention of living and working in one of the European Union states.