According to numbers collected by Lusa concerning the past eight years, remittances from Portuguese emigrants saw a general upward trend, although there were slumps in the past three years coinciding with the economic crisis the sub-Saharan country has been facing since 2015.
In 2010, Portuguese emigrants in Angola sent almost €135 million back home, followed by €147.3 million the following year.
The largest rise in remittances was in 2012 and 2013, coinciding with the economic recession Portugal faced, which forced the country to seek a financial aid programme by the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission.
During those two years, with barely any job opportunities in Portugal and its citizens searching for opportunities abroad, remittances rose to €270.6 million and then to €304.3 million in 2013.
Oil prices beginning to drop in Angola in summer 2014 and the consequent difficulties Angola faced could explain the
remittances dropping to €248 million that year.
In the following two years (2015 and 2016), the downward trend continued, in the context of lack of foreign currency and the difficulty of capital repatriation and outflow of currency. That might explain why remittances dropped to €213.4 million in 2015 and to €205.8 million the following year.
Last year remittances hit €245 million, despite Angola facing an economic recession since 2015.
Meanwhile, remittances from Angolans working in Portugal decreased from €13.4 million in 2010 to €11.73 million last year.