ArmInfo. The ratio of remittances to GDP for 2023 has decreased significantly. Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Martyn Galstyan stated this on June 3 during a press conference.
He noted that over the past few years there has been a continuous weakening of the economic effect in terms of the impact of transfers on the economy. "If 10 or more years ago this figure was about 18% of GDP, now it is below 8%," the head of the Central Bank clarified.
All this was influenced by a number of factors. As Martyn Galstyan explained, this is primarily due to the fact that the difference between wages expressed in drams and rubles has significantly decreased, in particular in the construction sector, where our compatriots are mainly involved. In this context, he noted that about 80% of Armenian labor migrants leave the country to work in Russia. Thus, the attractiveness of working in Russia has decreased quite significantly for Armenian workers.
He also included among the factors the significant cash flows that came to Armenia in 2022, when, due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, relocants poured here, moving capital and business. "And in this case, it is quite difficult to classify statistically whether these are net remittances or not, or what their nature is. We just saw that the peaks recorded in 2022 have, in a certain sense, been overcome, and now we can see an approach to the natural state," he said.
According to the Central Bank, the net inflow of private transfers to Armenia in 2023 decreased by 36%, in absolute terms decreasing from $2.6 billion to $1.7 billion. While in 2022, this figure showed an unprecedented 3-fold increase. In 2023, the main decrease in the growth rate of net inflows occurs in Russia - from 6.8 times to 5.1%, and net inflows from the United States accelerated in decline from 12.3% to 42.2%.
In particular, in 2023, the inflow of transfers slowed down in growth from 2.5 times to 9.7%, amounting to $5.7 billion. The same, in a less pronounced form, was observed in the outflow of transfers, the growth of which stalled from 2.1 times to 55%, exceeding $4 billion in absolute terms. Moreover, in the influx of remittances, a strong slowdown in growth was observed for transfers from Russia - from 4.2 times to 9.7%, amounting to $3.9 billion.
