Romanians abroad sent over USD 9 billion (EUR 8.2 bln) into the country as personal remittances in 2021, according to World Bank data quoted by Panorama.ro.

This sum is a record for the last 30 years and represents 3.2% of Romania’s GDP, placing the country third in the EU by the share of incoming remittances in the GDP.

The personal remittances sent by Romanians living abroad were almost as high as the foreign direct investments in Romania, which reached EUR 9 billion in 2021, according to BNR data.

Over 60% of the remittances come from Spain, Italy and Germany, which host some of the largest Romanian communities.

Romanians in Spain sent home over USD 2 bln, followed by those in Italy (USD 1.9 bln) and those in Germany (USD 1.9 bln). Romanians living in the UK were next, with remittances of USD 774 mln in 2021.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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