Immigrants are taking more and more money out of Germany
As reported by "Russian Germany", over the past three years, the amount of money transfers from Germany that immigrants send to their homeland has more than doubled, reaching a staggering size in 2018 – 5.1 billion euros. As financiers note, such a large-scale boom in transfers outside Germany has been observed for the first time.
At the same time, the largest role in the "capital outflow" was played by immigrants from Turkey, who transferred 822 million euros to their homeland over the past year. Immigrants from Poland and Romania are not far behind – they transferred 468 and 395 million euros respectively.
According to information provided by the press service of the Bundesbank, since 2015, the volume of money transfers from Germany to Poland has increased by more than 60%. One of the reasons for this trend, according to experts, was the expansion of the EU to the east.
Surprisingly, the list of leaders in the amount of money sent to their home country also includes Italians. Last year, residents of the sunny country transferred 363 million euros to Italy.
At the same time, refugees made transfers to war-torn Syria in a relatively more modest amount of 189 million euros.
Experts noted another trend: recently, there has been a significant increase in transfers to countries where civil wars are ongoing, such as Tunisia, Nigeria, and Eritrea. According to banking statistics, over three years, the volume of money transferred from Germany to accounts in these states increased by 2 million euros – from 18 to 20 million.
The most benefit from this situation is derived by banks that conduct the corresponding transactions. The average commission fee for a money transfer abroad reaches 7% of the amount sent.