Decline in Absolute Volume of Money Transfers from Russia to Armenia, Says Central Bank President

Decline in absolute volume of money transfers from Russia to Armenia has been noted. This was stated by the President of the Central Bank of Armenia, Martin Galstyan, during a meeting with reporters.

According to him, this may be partly due to issues with the 'Mir' payment system, but there are much larger and more impactful factors, including geopolitical and economic ones, that significantly influence the movement of transfers.

In the first quarter of this year, the net inflow of transfers decreased by about 50 percent compared to the same period last year, while non-commercial transfers fell by approximately 55 percent.

Galstyan mentioned that the Central Bank will conduct a survey regarding Armenian labor migrants in the near future, which may reveal certain behavioral trends. “This means that when there is a certain situation in both Russia and Armenia, we need to assess whether these individuals will continue to work in Russia with the same willingness and planning as before. For example, some wish to return to Armenia now, as the relative wage gap is much smaller than it was about ten years ago,” he noted.

In the study, the Central Bank will primarily focus on labor migrants heading to Russia since the volume of migrants heading to other countries is significantly smaller. When this research will take place is still uncertain, as Galstyan mentioned they are still in the planning stage.