Information on the volume of remittances sent by labor migrants to Tajikistan has not been published by banks for already several months, Sirojiddin Ikromi, the head of Amonatbonk (Tajikistan’s savings bank), told reporters in Dushanbe on August 8.
According to him, this work is made more difficult by the fact that various ways of transferring money have appeared.
“Previously, these funds were sent directly to banks and we understood that these funds from labor migrants. Now, these funds are transferred from mobile phone to mobile phone, from card to card and now it is very difficult to determine from whom this money – from entrepreneurs or from labor migrants,” Ikromi noted.
It is to be noted that although, labor migrants still remain a critical component in the country’s economy, Tajik authorities, stopped publishing information on the volume of remittances sent to Tajikistan in May 2113.
In a report released in Dushanbe, the then head of the National Bank of Tajikistan, 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.
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.
Remittances have played a crucial role in reducing poverty in Tajikistan, with over 80 percent of remittances being used for food consumption and around 10 percent for other basic needs like healthcare, housing, and education.
Currently, information on the volume of remittances sent by Tajik migrants is published by some international financial institutions but with a noticeable delay.
The World Bank noted in June this year that remittances sent to Tajikistan last year amounted to 5.2 billion US dollars, which was 49 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
