DUSHANBE, November 28, 2014, Asia-Plus — Over the first six months of this year, 1.555 billion U.S. dollars have been sent through money transfer system from Russia to Tajikistan, which was almost 5 percent fewer than in the same period last year, according to the Central Bank of Russia.
646 million U.S. dollars were reportedly sent in the first quarter and 909 million U.S. dollars were sent in the second quarter.
In January-June last year, 1.628 billion U.S. dollars were reportedly sent through money transfer system from Russia to Tajikistan.
Russia’s central bank notes that 3.927 billion U.S. dollars were sent from Russia to Tajikistan in 2013.
Among the CIS nations, Tajikistan reportedly takes the third place in terms of money transfer, and Uzbekistan is in the lead in this area as 2.815 billion U.S. dollars were sent there from Russia in January-June this year.
Remittance flow from Russia to Uzbekistan have reportedly declined by 13 percent.
Ukraine takes the second place among the CIS nations in terms of money transfer as 1.560 billion U.S. dollars have been remitted there from Russia over the first six months of this year – a 9 percent decline compared to the same period last year.
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 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.
