Armenian Migrants in Russia Send More Money Home Compared to Others

Money transfers from Armenian migrant workers in Russia to Armenia have sharply increased between July and September 2020 due to the easing of coronavirus restrictions. This is evidenced by calculations from RIA Novosti, based on data from the Bank of Russia.

The spread of the coronavirus negatively impacted the dynamics of money transfers during the second quarter of the previous year, where figures had decreased for most CIS countries, except for Armenia (showing a 4.4% increase compared to the first quarter) and Uzbekistan (with an 18.8% increase). Money transfers to Azerbaijan decreased by 16%, to Belarus by 18%, to Kazakhstan by 26%, to Kyrgyzstan by 1%, to Moldova by 11.4%, to Tajikistan by 4.7%, to Ukraine by 8%, and to Turkmenistan by 28.5%.

As measures against the coronavirus were relaxed, the situation began to stabilize. Particularly, transfers to Uzbekistan increased dramatically by 28.7% (totaling $927.7 million). Transfers to Armenia also rose by 27.3%, reaching $162.8 million, while those to Tajikistan increased by 25.7% ($425.5 million).

For other CIS countries, the growth in transfers was more modest: Azerbaijan received 22.9% more money ($204.5 million), Kazakhstan saw a 20% increase ($25.7 million), Kyrgyzstan received 21% more ($500.3 million), Moldova had a 4.4% increase ($83.7 million), and Ukraine received 7.7% more ($235.6 million). In the third quarter, only transfers to Belarus and Turkmenistan saw a decline, with the former dropping by 0.6% ($86.3 million) and the latter by 80% ($0.1 million).