Despite all the fine words on rigor and accountability, roughly €8.6 billion euros “fled Portugal” last year for offshore havens, almost all of it transferred by businesses.
The data comes from the government’s “portal das finanças”, obliged since May to release information that it has received from the country’s banks.
In black and white, it shows more transfers made to offshores this year, though overall for slightly lesser amounts.
For example, 2016 saw “almost 58.8 thousand transfers to fiscal havens” which translates into 39.5 thousand more than counted in 2015.
But 2015 saw a total of €8.8 billion leave the country, whereas slightly less.
What if anything happens to the 3,520 companies who sent their money out of the country is not explained.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
