Tag Archives: remittances

Tajikistan blocks major Russian remittance services

DUSHANBE/Dec. 4 (The Bulletin) –Tajikistan’s Central Bank blocked Koronapay and Western Union, two of the most popular money transfer services with Tajiks working in Russia, from sending cash into the country and instead insisted that people use two smaller services.

Earlier this year, the Tajik Central Bank took over control of the country’s transfer sorting system with, it now appears, the aim of controlling which services migrant workers use to send their cash home.

In a terse statement, the Tajik Central Bank said that it was only processing payments from the Unistream and Contact wire transfer systems.

“In future credit organisations will not consider the 9-digit code of the payment system Golden Crown,” it said.

Golden Crown is the brand name used by Koronapay which had sent an estimated 80% of Tajikistan’s remittances from Russia.

The following day the Central Bank published photos of a meeting with Unistream’s chief Kirill Palchun and said that commissions on wire transfers had been reduced from 1.5% to 0.99%.
Both Unistream and Contact are Russian money transfer systems but are far smaller than Western Union and Koronapay.

Analysts have said that the Tajik government may have wanted to take control of the wire transfer system because it is a lucrative cash generator. Tajiks working in Russia contribute up to half of the country’s GDP.

The Tajik Central Bank has previously said that it had taken over the transfer sorting system to protect customers from theft and corruption.

It also defended its decision to strip Koronapay and Western Union of permission to send cash from Russia because they had failed to comply with new legislation.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 431 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 9 2019

Remittances from Russia to Armenia rise

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AUG. 10 2017 (The Bulletin) — Remittances from Russia to Armenia increased by 15.5% in the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2016, the Armenian Central Bank said, an important indicator that the economics of the region are beginning to improve. In total, flows from Russia, an important hub for Armenian migrant workers, hit $408m between January and June. The economies of the region are partly reliant on Russia to generate wealth for migrant workers.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 339, published on Aug. 13 2017)

Georgian economy grows

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MAY 30 2017 (The Bulletin) — A rise in remittances and exports has boosted Georgia’s economic growth, official data showed. It showed that Georgia’s GDP was 4.2% bigger in the first four months of this year compared to the same period in 2016. In the first four months of 2016, GDP grew by 2.8%. Remittance inflows and exports have increased.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Georgian economic growth accelerates

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MARCH 30 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s economy grew by 4.8% in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2016, Geostat said. It said that a rise in remittances, mainly from Russia, and an increase in exports had boosted economic growth. The Georgian economy has weathered the economic downturn that has hit the region since 2014 better than its neighbours.

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

Remittances in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan fall, in general

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MARCH 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Remittances to Central Asia from Russia, a vital engine for economies in the region, fell in 2016 compared to 2015, data from the Russian Central Bank showed. Uzbeks working in Russia sent back $2.74b in 2016, down from $3b in 2015 and Tajiks sent back $1.9b compared to $2.2b the year before. Kyrgyzstan actually increased its remittances from Russia to $1.7b in 2016 from $1.5b.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Remittance flows to Tajikistan continues to slow

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DUSHANBE, FEB. 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajiks working in Russia sent $1.9b back to Tajikistan in 2016, representing around a third of the national GDP, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said quoting Central Bank statistics.

The data underlines the fall in the value of the remittances being sent back from Russia, where a drop in oil prices and Western sanctions imposed after Russian interference in eastern Ukraine, has hit the economy and pushed it into a recession.

“Over 870,000 Tajikistan citizens are working in Russia. The amount of their money transfers to the motherland was $1.9 bln in 2016, corresponding to one third of the republican GDP,” Tass news agency quoted Mr Ushakov as saying.

Remittances of $1.9b is around 15% lower than in 2015, which was itself nearly 50% lower than in 2014. The proportion of Tajikistan’s national economy that remittances makes up is also down sharply. Previously, remittances sent to Tajikistan from Russia accounted for around half of its GDP.

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are often described as being the most remittance-dependent countries in the world.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

More jobs needed in Tajikistan, says World Bank

FEB. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan desperately needs to create more and better jobs if its economy is going to grow at a sustained rate, the World Bank said in a new report. In its report, the World Bank said that only 43% of Tajiks of working age were in the job market. Remittances sent home from workers, mainly in Russia, is the biggest generator of GDP growth for Tajikistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)

WorldRemit extends to Armenia and Kazakhstan

FEB. 7 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — WorldRemit, a money wire service, said that it had extended its services to Armenia and Kazakhstan as well as Ukraine and Belarus, through a partnership with the Russian payment system Contact. Previously, London-based WorldRemit has concentrated its services in southeast Asia and Africa. It said that WorldRemit will operate 330 service points in Kazakhstan and 65 in Armenia. Remittances are a vital plank of the economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 316, published on Feb. 10 2017)

Tajikistan to resume Air-links talks with Russia

JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Talks between Russia and Tajikistan over restarting air-links, vital for Tajikistan’s remittance-dependent economy, will resume on Jan. 26, media reported. Both countries cut air-links in December after a row. Without the vital air-link to Moscow and other major Russian cities, young Tajik men will not be able to travel to Russia, the source of most of the remittance cash.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Remittance flows rise in Kyrgyzstan

JAN. 11 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz workers abroad sent back $1.83b to Kyrgyzstan in the first 11 months of 2016, an 18.6% rise on 2015, media reported quoting the Kyrgyz Central Bank. Remittance flows are vital for Kyrgyzstan and a recession in Russia has severely dented its economy. The Central Bank also said that remittances from Russia in November 2016 were a third higher than in November 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)