A remittance is a net money transfer from abroad without refund. These kinds of transfers are among the components of the current account in the balance of payments.

 

Open Data Albania has conducted a research work on the level of remittances and the unemployment rate in two countries of the region where part of Albanian emigrants live: Italy and Greece. The data are based on statistics of the Bank of Albania and the European Central Bank. The unemployment rates are calculated based on the annual average unemployment rates in Italy and Greece.

The level of remittances in Albania and the unemployment rate in Italy and Greece is shown in the graphs below:

Source: Bank of Albania, European Central Bank
Analysis and comments: ODA


Source: Bank of Albania, European Central Bank
Analysis and comments: ODA

The level of remittances in million of ALL, is calculated on the average exchange rates of ALL/EUR and ALL/USD during the last decade:

Source: Bank of Albania
Analysis and comments: ODA

As it can be seen from the graph, there is a distinct link between the unemployment rate in the developed neighbour countries, and the level of remittances in Albania. Thus, during the period 2004-2007, when the European countries experienced a strong economic growth, associated with a decrease in the unemployment rate, the remittances sent by the Albanian emigrants reached the highest levels recorded historically. While in 2008-2009, a decrease in the workers’ remittances is noticed, resulting from the global economic crisis and recession in the developed countries, associated with rising unemployment rates in these countries. This may be an indicator showing that Albanian emigrants have directly suffered from the economic crisis in the recent years.
In the long-term, the reduction of remittances is expected to increase the current deficit and slowdown the economic development in absence of improvement in the other economic indicators.

All the information is presented in the table below:


Source: Bank of Albania
Analysis and comments: ODA

Comments and Analysis: Open Data Albania
Contributed by: R.E