The inflow of money to Serbia on the basis of remittances from abroad from January to September this year is lower by almost half a billion euros compared to the same period in 2019.
Namely, according to the latest available balance of payments data of the National Bank of Serbia, the total inflow based on remittances in the period from January to September 2020 amounted to 2.2 billion euros, which is 422.3 million less compared to the same period last year.
– The smaller inflow of remittances is a consequence of the corona virus pandemic and its unfavorable impact on economic trends in the countries where our diaspora works predominantly. The inflows of remittances are lower not only in Serbia, but also on a global level – they explain in the National Bank of Serbia.
The central bank points out that the impact of the pandemic on remittance movements is twofold.
First of all, the decline in gross domestic product in the countries from which remittances are sent affects the reduction of available funds that people can allocate and send to their home countries.
– In addition, the measures of restricting the movement in order to suppress the spread of the virus, make it difficult to transfer part of the remittances that are not done through official channels, or money that the diaspora brings in cash – the NBS points out.
Let us remind you, in the first wave of the corona virus, in March and April, about 400,000 guest workers returned to Serbia, primarily from Western European countries.
Many of them are still at home, as the pandemic has not abated, and European countries have repeatedly applied various restrictions and “lockdown” to prevent further spread of the virus.
However, most remittances in the first half of 2020 came from Germany, the European country where most Serbs live and work – 377 million euros. 169 million euros were paid from Switzerland, 109 million euros from Austria, and 95 million euros arrived from the USA, where as many as 650,000 Serbs live, by August.
As for the outflow of money, 161.6 million euros were sent from Serbia from January to August, which is an increase of 11.7 million euros or 7.8 percent compared to the same period last year.
The NBS points out that the central bank has made improvements to the payment system over the past few years, which have facilitated cross-border transfers, and thus contributed to increasing the share of remittances entering Serbia through formal channels, through bank accounts and fast money transfer operators.
– This is especially important at a time when the movement of people in most parts of the world is difficult, given that it allows the inflow of remittances to Serbia to continue regardless of the physical movement of the population – the NBS concludes.
The largest diaspora in the United States
According to the latest data, about 11 million Serbs live on the planet Earth, and after the Balkans, most of them are in the United States, as many as 650,000.
When it comes to Europe, most Serbs are in Germany – 450,000, followed by Austria (300,000) and Switzerland (almost 200,000). It is interesting that 80,000 Serbs live in Great Britain, which is known for strict procedures even regarding tourist visas.
A significant number of our citizens also live in Asia and Oceania – 120,000, of which the overwhelming majority live in Australia, Srbija Danas reports.
