ArmInfo. In 2016 the amount of money transfers from Russia to Armenia will remain the same as in 2015, IMF Mission Chief to Armenia Hossein Samiei said on April 6 when replying to ArmInfo's question.
He said that over the past few months the official data demonstrate tangible fall in transfers from Russia to Armenia. It is hard to forecast what situation the Russian economy will experience in 2016, but he thinks that the situation of transfers will remain stable.
The IMF Mission Chief does not rule out possible growth in the inflow of transfers to Armenia amid the possible further positive trends in the Russian economy.
To note, in 2015 the inflow of the individuals' transfers to Armenia dropped by 24% to $1.6 bln amid 16% fall in the outflow to $0.8 bln. Russia's share in both the inflow and outflow is the biggest - 63% and 37%, respectively. The difference between the inflow of transfers to Armenia from Russia and the outflow from Armenia to Russia started shrinking since 2014 (down 13%), whereas over the previous four years it experienced growth: in 2010 - $942 mln (+24%), in 2011 - $1.2 bln (+25%), in 2012 - $1.4 bln (+18.2%), in 2013 - $1.5 bln (+7.2%). Over the past two years, the inflow of transfers from Russia to Armenia fell by almost $730 mln (in 2015 alone - by $554 mln) to $1.002 bln versus a less tangible decline in the crises- affected year 2009 (by $512 mln).