Remittances

Bulgarian prosecutors have charged five Syrians and a Bulgarian woman with financing terrorist groups in the Middle East, reports Radio Free Europe. 

"The group transferred at least 25 million euros [$29 million] to terrorist organizations over four years," said Rumiana Arnaudova, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, on January 19.

The Bulgarian Prosecution announced on Saturday that it has indicted six people, five of whom are in custody, for the alleged illicit money transfer of over 25 million euros and smuggling at least 100 vehicles to Syria.

Two Afghan employees at a currency exchange bureau in central Athens and a Greek alleged to own the establishment were detained on Tuesday in connection to the alleged illegal transfer of more than 4.5 million euros to Asian and African states.

Remittances - money sent by Bulgarian migrants to family members back home reached EUR 75.5M in July 2014.

Remittances again registered an increase in 2013, with Romanians sending home 4.2 billion euro last year, according to data from the National Bank.

The rise is believed to signify that many Romanian emigrants to countries like Italy and Germany have again started to find stable employment after the worst of the financial crisis.

Remittances - money sent by Bulgarian migrants to family members back home – have reached BGN 12.2B in the past 10 years.

The central bank said on Sunday that the amount sent home by Montenegrins working abroad to their families increased by almost five per cent last year, reaching a total of 353 million euro.