DUSHANBE, January 4, 2014, Asia-Plus — Over the first nine months of this year, 3.0443 billion U.S. dollars have been sent through money transfer system from Russia to Tajikistan, according to the Central Bank of Russia.
1.3666 billion U.S. dollars was reportedly sent through money transfer system from Russia to Tajikistan in the third quarter of 2013 alone.
Russia’s central bank notes that the average sum of the remittances to Tajikistan over the report period was 355.00 U.S. dollars.
Among the CIS nations, Tajikistan takes the second place in terms of money transfer, and Uzbekistan is in the lead in this area as 4.9086 billion U.S. dollars was sent there from Russia in January-September this year.
Meanwhile, Tajikistan reportedly tops the CIS nations in terms of the number of transactions – 26 percent. It is followed by Uzbekistan – 24 percent, Kyrgyzstan – 15 percent, and Ukraine – 14 percent.
Over the first three quarters of this year, net flow of remittances to Tajikistan from Russia has amounted to 2.687 billion U.S. dollars, which was 12.3 percent more than in the same period last year.
In January-September 2013, net flow of remittances from Russia reportedly amounted to 46.4 percent of Tajikistan’s gross domestic product (GDP).
In 2012, 3.8 billion U.S. dollars was sent from Russia to Tajikistan, which was 800 million U.S. dollars more than in 2011. In 2012, Tajik remittances from Russia reportedly amounted to some 50 percent of Tajikistan’s GDP.
Labor migrants still remain a critical component in the economy of Tajikistan. Tajik government, however, stopped publishing information on the volume of remittances sent to Tajikistan in May this year. In a report released in Dushanbe, the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) head Abdujabbor Shirinov revealed on July 23, 2013 that Tajikistan will no longer release cash transfer data. According to him, the government stopped publishing information on the volume of remittances sent to Tajikistan in May. “I”d rather not talk about migrants” funds because this issue may be politicized,” Abdujabbor Shirinov said.
