Polish emigrants sending more money home
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
15.04.2013 12:06
Transfers of money to Poland by Poles living abroad rose in 2012, but analysts stress that the rate is stabilising.
UK Polish shop: photo - creative commons/kake
All in all, Poles abroad sent 17.4 billion zloty (4.2 euro) home in 2012, according to statistics released by the National Bank of Poland (NBP).
The sum represents an increase of 70 million zloty (17 million euro) since 2011, but demographer Professor Krystyna Iglicka from Warsaw's Lazarski University believes that the times of sharp growth in transfers are over.
“The longer people stay abroad, the less money they send,” she told the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna paper.
Iglicka reflected that many emigrants who were sending money to Poland in previous years have since brought their families to their new homes.
Overall, she estimates that about a million Poles will not be returning to their homeland.
Meanwhile, Iglicka believes that in 2012, about 140,000 Poles left Poland to make a new start.
The biggest wave of emigration came in the years following Poland's 2004 accession to the EU, with the United Kingdom proving the most popular destination. (nh)