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    Ani Basmajian
  • 7 years ago
    • Categories: 2018

RFE/RL Armenia Report – 01/04/2018

                                        Thursday, January 4, 2018

Migrant Remittances To Armenia Soar

Emil Danielyan

Armenia - View of the Armenian capital Yerevan and mount Ararat
(5137m), Yerevan, Armenia, 17 February 2013.


After three years of rapid reduction, multimillion-dollar remittances
from Armenians working abroad grew strongly in 2017, contributing to
faster economic growth in Armenia.

Data from the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) puts the total amount of
incoming cash transfers from individuals processed by commercial banks
in January-November 2017 at $1.56 billion, up by 18 percent from the
same period in 2016. The figure was equivalent to roughly 15 percent
of the country's Gross Domestic Product.

The increased remittances seem to be one of the factors behind a 6
percent year-on-year rise in nationwide retail trade reported by the
National Statistical Service (NSS). Senior officials in Yerevan said
last month that the Armenian economy is on track to grow by at least 6
percent in 2017.

The economy stagnated in 2016 amid a continuing recession in Russia,
Armenia's leading trading partner and main source of remittances. The
Russian economy recovered slightly in 2017.

More importantly, the Russian ruble has strengthened against the
U.S. dollar by more than 30 percent since the beginning of
2016. Armenian remittances shrank from $2.3 billion in 2013 to $1.53
billion in 2016 amid the ruble's sharp depreciation resulting from the
collapse of world oil prices.

Money sent home by Armenians working in Russia accounted for over 60
percent of overall remittance inflows in January-November 2017,
according to the CBA. It was up by about 18 percent year on year,
suggesting that there were equally significant rises in wire transfers
from other ex-Soviet states and the European Union. Remittances from
the United States, which also has a sizable Armenian community, rose
by only 2 percent.

The stronger ruble also contributed to a 23.5 percent rise in Armenian
exports recorded by official statistics in the eleven-month
period. NSS data shows Armenian exports to Russia soaring by as much
as 44 percent to $494 million.

Overall, Armenia exported $2 billion worth of goods and commodities in
January-November 2017. Almost 29 percent of them went to the EU.



Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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