FEB. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek immigrants contributed around a third of the remittances sent from Russia between January 2010 and September 2013, media reported quoting Uzbekistan’s Central Bank. The Central Bank data underlines how dependent ordinary people in Uzbekistan are on cash sent home by Uzbeks working in Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A new law in Russia means 220,000 Armenian workers will shortly have to return home, cutting remittance flows, media quoted demographic analyst Ruben Yeganyan as saying. From Jan. 1, Russia will allow casual labourers to stay only 90 days in a 180-day period. Remittances from Russia are a vital income for many Armenian families.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The falling value of the Russian rouble is decreasing the amount of cash that Uzbeks working in Russia are able to wire home, media reported. Like other Emerging Markets currencies, the rouble has been slipping back against a strengthening dollar over the past few months.
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(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)
OCT. 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — With Uzbekistan being a secretive sort of place, grabbing titbits of genuine economic data to analyse is important.
This is where Russia’s Central Bank has helped out. It said on Oct. 31 that labour migrants from Uzbekistan sent $1.6b back home in the second quarter of the year, that’s April, May and June.
For the poor of Central Asia, Russia is the obvious place to head to for work. It is the former colonial master, speaks the same language and needs plenty of labourers.
In the first quarter of 2013, Uzbek migrants sent $1b back home. Most of the migrants, like many from Central Asia, work in the construction industry in Russia. Altogether, it looks as if migrant workers send roughly $5b to $6b back to Uzbekistan every year which equals about 10% of Uzbekistan’s total GDP.
Uzbekistan doesn’t publish remittance data, making the Russian Central Bank data so important.
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(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)
OCT. 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s government has complained to Russia about the apparent mistreatment of one of its nationals by police in Moscow, media reported.
The complaint is important because it sets Azerbaijan at loggerheads, once again, with Russia over the sensitive topic of migrant workers.
Police in Moscow arrested Orhan Zeylanov, a 25-year-old migrant worker from Azerbaijan, on Oct. 15 for the apparent murder of a Russian man a few days earlier.
The murder was blamed for triggering a riot in a Moscow suburb, the worst anti-migrant violence for years.
TV footage from the arrest of Mr Zeylanov showed police kicking him. The TV commentator also referred to him as “the killer” before any formal court proceeding had started.
The row renews the debate over how migrant workers are treated in Russia.
It also, importantly, focuses attention on relations between Azerbaijan and Russia.
These have grown steadily more strained over the past few years. Azerbaijan has challenged Russia’s gas dominance and created an alternative energy supply route for EU states.
Azerbaijan has also become cosy with the United States. In short, its energy wealth has allowed it to act increasingly independently from Russia.
Compared to other former Soviet countries, remittances from workers in Russia make up only a small proportion of Azerbaijan’s economy, 3% according to the World Bank, but it is still important.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hundreds of ethnic Russians in a suburb of Moscow rioted against migrant workers from the South Caucasus and Central Asia. The trigger for the violence was the alleged murder of a Russian man by an Azerbaijani. Remittances from migrant workers are vital to the economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
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(News report from Issue No. 156, published on Oct. 16 2013)
JULY 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik Central Bank has stopped publishing monthly remittance data because it can be manipulated for political gain, media quoted its head, Abdujabbor Shirinov, as saying. Remittances account for roughly 50% of the Tajik economy, the highest proportion in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 145, published on July 29 2013)
APRIL 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Kyrgyzstan from workers living mainly in Russia jumped by 23% in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2012, local media quoted the Kyrgyz Central Bank as saying. Like neighbouring Tajikistan, remittances are a vital part of Kyrgyzstan’s economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 131, published on April 12 2013)
NOV. 22 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – World Bank data showed, again, that Tajikistan’s economy is the most reliant in the world on remittances, media reported. In 2011, remittances, mainly from Russia, accounted for 47% of Tajikistan’s GDP. Second on the list was Liberia with a 31% share. Remittances made up 29% of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)