Remittances from Moroccans residing in Spain increased by 33% between 2019 and 2020, from 766 million to 1.022 billion euros.
“Before, an MRE could come into the country at any time of the year with money, part of which he left with his family. It was not counted as a transfer. But with the closing of the borders, the travel restrictions, this flow has inevitably become formal, hence the strong progression that we can see today in the figures ”, explains Íñigo Moré, director of Remesas. org. Moroccans represented the largest foreign community in Spain in 2020 with 865,945 people, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Total remittances from Spain increased 36% from 2013 to 2020, the expert notes. “The increase in remittances from Spain to Africa is fading, because there are other destinations that are growing a lot more,” he said. According to data from the Bank of Spain, the 414 million euros transferred to Senegal in 2020 (+ 19.65% from 2017 to 2020), added to the 1.022 billion euros sent to Morocco, represent 17.9% funds sent from Spain.
Apart from Morocco, which experienced an exceptional rebound during the pandemic, remittances from Spain to Pakistan also climbed in 2020 to reach 373 million euros, an increase of 18% compared to 2019. But this This trend is likely to run out of steam in 2021, as health conditions improve in countries and travel restrictions are lifted.
At the end of April 2021, the total number of remittances from around the world to Morocco increased by 45.3% compared to the same period in 2020, from 1.8 billion euros to 2.6 billion, according to figures from the Foreign Exchange Office.
