“In 2016, the value of remittances from emigrants received in Portugal was slightly above 3.3 billion euros,” states the Emigration Report, drawn up by the Emigration Observatory, a state institution. “Between 2015 and 2016 the value of remittances received practically stagnated.”

The year-on-year increase was 0.8%, according to the report.

The report, which is published annually, states that due to the economic growth in Portugal over the period “the value of remittances as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) showed a slight reduction, going from 1.8 to 1.7%.”

The two countries with the most Portuguese emigrants, France and Switzerland, accounted for more than half of all remittances in 2016, with 34% and 21% of the total respectively. However, the report noted, while remittances from France last year swelled by 8.7% - the largest increase of any country – those from Switzerland shrank 18.1% - the largest decrease.

There was a significant increase in remittances from the UK, up 11.8% to almost €249 million, placing the country third overall, after the large influxes of Portuguese migrants there in recent years.

Outside Europe, 90% of all remittances from Africa in 2016 were from Angola, which ranks sixth overall in the world, with just short of €206 million. Back in 2014, before the crisis brought on by the decline in the crude price, it had been ranked third.

The only Portuguese-language country in Africa from which remittances registered an increase last year was Cape Verde, up 6.1% to €1.74 million.

The launch of the report in Lisbon was attended by Portugal’s minister of foreign affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, and the secretary of state for Portuguese communities abroad, José Luís Carneiro, among other officials.