REMITTANCES TO MOLDOVA INCREASE BY 16%

As of July 1, the volume of remittances to Moldova through banks from abroad in favor of individuals amounted to US$640.3 million, i.e. 16% more compared with the equivalent period of 2017.

According to the National Bank of Moldova (NBM), US$117.48 million have been transferred in June only, which is 8.5% more than a year ago. The vast majority of funds - US$99.93 million - came through international money transfer systems. US dollar comes first in the structure of remittances – 45.9% (+0.3 %), while euro is on the second place – 45.6% (-1.1%), and the Russian ruble comes next – 8.5% (+0.8%).

According to geographical origin, 39.7% of transfers came from the EU, 30.5% from the CIS and 29.8% from the rest of the world. More transfers still come from Russia – US$ 34.47 million (29.3%), although this is 6.4% less than in June 2017.

Remittances from Israel accounted for US $19.43 million, Italy – US$14.25 million, USA – US$9.92 million, Germany – US$7.61 million, UK – US$6.93 million, France – US$4.41 million, Spain – US$1.52 million, and Ireland – US$1.43 million.

The NBM notes that transfers from abroad to individuals through banks consist not only of transfers sent by gastarbeiters, they also include one-way transfers in the form of pensions, benefits, inheritances, gifts, donations and other types of transfers.

As already reported by Infotag, in 2017, the volume of transfers through banks in favor of individuals amounted to almost US$1.2 billion, which is US$121 million (11.2%) more than a year earlier.

The historical maximum was registered in 2008, when Moldovans transferred US$1.66 billion to their homeland.