Bulgarians working abroad have sent a record EUR 1.32 billion to their relatives in the country in 2023, official Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) statistics show.

Compared to 2022, that is an increase of 25%. This means the sumtotal of the money invested in domestic consumption by Bulgarians working abroad has exceeded the pre-pandemic EUR 1.2 billion sent in 2019, after which, due to the closure of economies, the money sent to Bulgaria from abroad went down to EUR 400 million in 2020, and to EUR 161.1 million in 2021. The BNB points out that their statistics only cover transfers of over EUR 2,500, and do not register cash payments. According to experts, if cash payments are included that would boost the money sent to the country by 25%, as compared to BNB data.