Depreciation of the Russian ruble will affect incomes of Tajik migrants’ families as they now receive 136.00 somoni for 1000 Russian rubles instead of the previous 152.00 somoni.
Over the past three days, the Russian ruble (RR) has lost more than 10 percent of its value against the Tajik national currency, the somoni. Depreciation of the Russian ruble will affect migrants’ incomes.
On April 12, the exchange rate of RR against USD was set at 64.0626:1.00, while on April 9 it was 57.8332:1.00.
Today, Tajik migrant working in Russia needs 6,406 Russian rubles to buy US$100.00 for sending them to his family in Tajikistan.
According to Russia’s central bank, 2.536 billion U.S. dollars were sent through money transfer system to Tajikistan from Russia last year, which more than 600 million U.S. dollars more than in 2016.
An average amount of a remittance sent to Tajikistan from Russia through money transfer system last year was 98.00 USD.
In the currency structure the percentage was: Russian ruble – 83 percent; U.S. dollar – 16 percent; and euro – 0.1 percent.
In 2016, 1.929 billion U.S. dollars were sent to Tajikistan from Russia through the money transfer systems, which was 651 million U.S. dollars more than in 2015 (1.278 billion U.S. dollars were sent through money transfer systems to Tajikistan from Russia in 2015).
Meanwhile, 3.831 billion U.S. dollars were sent through money transfer systems to Tajikistan from Russia in 2014 and 4.155 billion U.S. dollars in 2013.
Tajikistan is one of the world’s most remittance dependent countries and labor migrants are still a critical component in the economy of Tajikistan. Remittances keep many struggling families at home above the poverty line.
An estimated 1 million Tajik labor migrants are currently working in the Russian Federation, according to some sources.
