Remittances from Portuguese emigrants in Angola halved in December

Remittances from Portuguese emigrants in Angola totalled 16.7 million euros in December last year, the Bank of Portugal revealed on Monday.

That means a 51.5-percent decrease compared to December 2013, when the Portuguese working in Angola sent back 34.5 million euros.

Last year remittances from Angola totalled 248 million euros, a 18.5-percent drop compared to money sent home in 2013, the figures reveal.

Angola, Africa's second-largest crude oil producer behind Nigeria, is facing increasing financial difficulties due to low oil prices and is having to impose tougher financial discipline to get the country back on track. The country is still recovering from a 27-year civil war which ravaged the country and ended in 2003.

The Angolan government decided this month to go ahead with a special transfer tax exemption for money sent abroad, according to Portuguese newspaper Diario Economico, and there has been a slowdown in supply of dollars from banks.

These factors could contribute to the reduction of remittances from Angola to Portugal, which had risen 12 percent between 2012 and 2013. Enditem