Six out of ten Romanians consider diaspora's main contribution to Romania's economy is money sent home

Six out of ten Romanians (59%) consider that the main contribution of the diaspora to Romania's economy is represented by the money sent to the family, while 21% consider the contribution being the money spent on their visits to the country, according to a survey made by a company specializing in international money transfers.

According to the results of the TransferGo research, on average, a Romanian sends home 500 euros per month, given that the income of a Romanian working in the UK or Spain, for example, is about 2,000 euros.

The World Bank data reveals that the value of the amounts sent to Romania in 2019 is 7.2 billion dollars, representing a percentage of 3% of Romania's GDP.

However, only 20% of Romanians believe that people who go abroad contribute to the development of the local economy through investments made when returning to the country, according to the survey carried out at the request of TransferGo at the end of 2020.

At the same time, 60% of Romanians believe, however, that those who have gone abroad should return to the country.

TransferGo launched on December 1, 2020 the "I value for Romania" campaign to support and promote the contribution of Romanians in the diaspora to the development of the local economy, as well as to the promotion of the country's image abroad.

The campaign includes an online petition addressed to the National Bank of Romania (BNR) for the launch of a banknote or collector coin dedicated to the diaspora. So far, over 3,500 Romanians have signed the petition, and a great support has come from many Romanian communities in countries such as: UK, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, France or Ireland. Echoes of the campaign also came from Cyprus, the USA, Greece, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Iceland, Poland, Montenegro, Malta and the Philippines.

TransferGo is an international online money transfer company, founded in 2012 by four Lithuanian founders based in London. The company currently has offices in Vilnius, Berlin, Istanbul and Warsaw.

Locally, the company has been present since 2015, and in 2019 more than half a million transfers were operated to Romania through TransferGo, 80% of which were made from the mobile application. During January of this year, TransferGo reported a 50% increase in cash flow for Romania, as well as an application utilization rate of over 80%, show the preliminary results of the company.