Migrants contribute to growth of money transfers to Azerbaijan

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 17 / Trend / Leyla Abdullayeva, Trend Analytic Center Expert The growth in money transfers is almost always accompanied by their positive influence on the development of the country, both at macro and micro levels. Except for the purely business transfers, transfers sent by migrants to their families, constitute a significant proportion of remittances. A positive fact is that the dominant part of the migrants remits money through official channels, i.e. through banks and specialized organizations dealing with remittances. Despite the fact that the slowing global economy has negatively affected the employment prospects of migrants in some countries, volume of remittances worldwide, according to the forecast of the World Bank (WB) will continue to grow. Three years later it is expected to reach $515 billion. According to data released by the World Bank's report "Prospects for the dynamics of remittances, 2011-2013," the amount of funds sent by international migrants worldwide to home, during the economic crisis of 2008-2009 fell sharply. However, they quickly returned to previous level. Azerbaijan is not exception among the countries of the world. This situation is well traced by the dynamics of officially recorded remittances to Azerbaijan. Thus, according to statistics from the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, in 2011 through systems of money transfers Azerbaijan received over 1.046 billion manat, which is 19.3 percent higher than at the end of 2010 and by 44.9 percent - in 2009. In 2010 this figure amounted to 876.9 million manat, and in 2009 - 722.2 million manat. During 2011 over 1.834 million transfers was carried out to the country against over 1.627 milion in 2010 and over 1.295 million in 2009. In December, 2011 the average amount of a transfer to the country amounted to 562 manat. Now Russia, where primarily Azerbaijani migrants go is one of the leaders in terms of the number of arriving migrants, not only in the former Soviet Union. And where there are migrants remittances abroad are also there. According to Russian official sources, in the first quarter of 2011 Azerbaijan is the absolute leader in terms of the sum of one transfer. Its citizens receive from their relatives working in Russia, on average, $617 for a single transfer. However in terms of the total volume Azerbaijan ranks only sixth among the former Soviet republics. At the top positions are Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Ukrainians, who in the reporting period sent home through the transfer system $562 million, $438 million and $430 million respectively. In particular, remittances of Tajik migrants in Russia in 2011 amounted to $2.96 billion, 33 percent more. According to the National Bank of Tajikistan, remittances in 2011 amounted to about 45 percent of the country's GDP. Over half of Tajik families depend on remittances from Russia. Studies of the UN experts say that remittances to developing countries make an important contribution to the fight against poverty and have beneficial effect on economic growth in the long run. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az