DUSHANBE, September 16, 2014, Asia-Plus — Over the first six months of this year, 1.668 billion U.S. dollars have been sent through money transfer system from Russia to Tajikistan, according to the Central Bank of Russia.
Russia’s central bank notes that little more than 644 million U.S. dollars have been remitted to Tajikistan over the first quarter and 1.024 billion U.S. dollars have been remitted to Tajikistan over the second quarter.
The average sum of the remittances sent to Tajikistan in January-March was 270.00 U.S. dollars and the average sum of the remittances sent to Tajikistan in April-June was 306.00 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 2.5404 billion U.S. dollars was sent there from Russia in January-June this year.
Meanwhile, 1.6777 billion U.S. dollars were sent through money transfer system from Russia to Tajikistan in January-June last year.
Thus, there is no a sharp decline in remittances flows to Tajikistan contrary to predictions. In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Abdujabbor Shirinov, the head of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), said on July 22 that remittance flows have declined only 2 percent over the first six months of this year.
According to the statistical data from Russia’s central bank, 4.1543 billion U.S. dollars were sent through money transfer system from Russia to Tajikistan in 2013, which was equal to nearly 50 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 2013. 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.
