RBC: Money transfers from Russia to Kazakhstan, Georgia increase by 100%

Record money transfers have been observed from Russia to Kazakhstan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan last year.

This conclusion is made on the basis of statistics from the central banks of these countries that take into account money transfers through banks and/or money transfer systems Zolotaya Korona, Unistream and Contact, according to Social Bites.

Thus, 357 billion tenge, or approximately $775.4 million, was transferred from Russia to Kazakhstan last year. Statistics of the Central Bank of Kazakhstan show that this has been a record number since at least 2014. Compared to 2021, the volume of transfers from Russia to Kazakhstan increased by 6.8 times.

Georgia received about $2 billion from Russia in 2022. Based on data from the RBC Central Bank of Georgia, this is the highest figure since 2012 and the lowest since 2012. Compared to 2021, the volume of transfers from Russia to Georgia has increased fivefold.

While speaking to the press service of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, RIA Novosti reported that the volume of money transfers from Russia to Uzbekistan reached $14.5 billion in the reporting period, and this figure increased 2.6 times compared to 2021. The financial regulator did not respond to RBC’s request.

Central banks of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have not yet released data for the whole of last year. The financial regulators of these countries have statistics for 11 months of 2022.

According to central bank data, the volume of transfers from Russia to Armenia was $3.1 billion, while the volume of transfers to Kyrgyzstan was $2.6 billion. The volume of transfers to Armenia quadrupled compared to the 11-month data of 2021. This is the highest figure since 2004. During the period under review, the volume of transfers to Kyrgyzstan increased by six per cent, with a less significant increase.

Experts interviewed by RBC stated that the increase in the volume of money transfers from Russia to neighbouring countries was due to the displacement of some Russians after the declaration of partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation on September 21, 2022.

According to the estimates of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, the number of Russians traveling abroad from July to September last year reached 9.7 million, the figure almost doubled: from five million in April-June. From the statistics of the service, in comparison with July-September 2021, the number of citizens traveling abroad increased by 1.2 million. The missions were very different – for example, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Thailand, Portugal, United Arab Emirates.