YEREVAN, July 4. /ARKA/. Private remittances sent to Armenia via banks slashed by 17% in May 2016 when compared to the same period of 2015, falling to $109.5 million, the Central Bank said. It said also in May the remittances decreased by 4.8% from April.
Remittances from Armenia abroad increased by 14.6% to about $67.5 million. The net inflow of remittances therefore amounted to approximately $41.9 million, which was by 42.5% less than in the same period last year.
Russia accounted for approximately 61.4% of the total private remittances sent to Armenia, down from 70%-80% several years ago. More specifically, remittances from Russia slashed by 20.2% to about $67.2 million, while remittances from Armenia to Russia grew by 72.4% to $33.5 million.
Armenia’s Central Bank said earlier it expects a 6-8% drop in the amount of private remittances from Russia in 2016. In 2015 private remittances to Armenia fell by 30% to $1.208.5 billion, largely due to the depreciation of the Russian ruble.-0-
