In 2024, "gray deals" involving gold and diamonds with Hong Kong, the  UAE and several offshore zones began to shine through in private  transfers

ArmInfo. In 2024, the volume of private transfers inflow to Armenia exceeded $5.8 billion (including $1.01 billion of non-commercial nature). The outflow, on the other hand, was $4.3 billion (including $440 million of non-commercial  nature). In terms of annual dynamics, the inflow increased by 2.5%,  while the outflow increased by 7.1%. As a result, the net inflow of  transfers to the country in 2024 decreased by 9% - to $1.5 billion.  Specifically, for non-commercial transfers, the decline in net inflow  was more significant, dropping  by 35% to $573.5 million. The share  of the latter in the total net inflow decreased over the year from  53% to 38%. This is evidenced by data from the Central Bank of the  Republic of Armenia.

 Russia has maintained its position as a leader in the inflow of  private money transfers to Armenia, while the United Arab Emirates  (UAE), took the lead in outflow. Transfers from the Russian  Federation decreased by 3.2% over the year to $3.8 billion, with   outflow  also seeing a slight growth  7.3% to $688.4 million. In  contrast, transfers to and from the UAE saw significant increases of  56% and 54%, reaching $116 million and $880.3 million, respectively.  Despite a 5.2% decline, the net inflow from Russia remained positive  level at $3.1 billion, while the net inflow from the UAE remained   increased to $764.3 million, a 54% rise. The share of non-commercial  transactions in both inflow and outflow to Russia and the UAE is  relatively low, ranging from 11% and 22%. Following Russia in terms  of inflow, the TOP-5 are the USA, Switzerland, the Isle of Man and  the UAE, while following the UAE in terms of outflow  are the Russian  Federation, the USA, Switzerland and Monaco.

The annual transfer dynamics to Hong Kong appear much more noteworthy  - a 4.2-fold jump in inflow is accompanied by a 30% decline in  outflow, the volumes of which amounted to $38.3 million and $30.8  million, respectively. This shift has improved the dynamics of the  net inflow of transfers from Hong Kong to Armenia over the year from  a  negative $34.9 million to a positive $7.5 million, a 2.2 times  increase over the year. Moreover, the share of non-commercial  transactions in the inflow from Hong Kong is low - 2% (annual decline  in volume by 24%), and even lower in the outflow - 4% (annual growth  in volume by 67%). According to experts, these transaction trend in  the direction of Hong Kong and the UAE can be explained by "gray  deals" involving gold and diamonds, as these countries are the main  re-exporters of precious metals and stones.

 In particular, experts refer to customs data, showing that the  majority of diamonds and gold imported from Russia are then exported  to the UAE and Hong Kong. Thus, in the first half of 2024, the lion's  share of the total volume of diamond and gold imports came from  Russia - 77% and 99.7%, respectively, and the primary destinations  for these precious metals and stones were the markets of the UAE (77%  diamonds and 64% gold) and Hong Kong (17% diamonds and 25% gold). A  similar trend was observed at the end of 2023, but then 46.7% of  diamonds and 99.2% of gold came from Russia, which were also exported  to the UAE (84.6% of diamonds and 71.4% of gold) and Hong Kong (2.7%  of diamonds and 25.4% of gold).

An increase in transfers is recorded in the direction of the USA,  both in inflow and outflow - by 4% and 26% - to $ 690.6 million and $  584.9 million, respectively. This kept the net inflow in this  direction at a positive $ 105.7 million, despite a 47% decline.  Moreover, almost 48% of the inflow from the USA are non-commercial  transactions, a share  not observed in any of the countries under  consideration. In the direction of Switzerland,  there was an 11%  decline in inflow to $125.5 million, accompanied by a 93% increase in  outflow to $456.1 million. This resulted in the negative net inflow  increasing by 3.5 times to $330.6 million.

In the direction of the offshore Isle of Man, there was a significant  increase in inflow, growing  6 times to $116.5 million, while outflow  decreased by 71%  to only $18 thousand, which increased the positive  net inflow by 6 times to $116.5 million. In  the offshore zone of  Monaco, both inflow and outflow decrease was recorded - by 43% and  61% to $17.9 million and $160 million, respectively, which reduced  the negative net inflow by 62% to $142.1 million.

It should be noted that in 2023, the total inflow of transfers from  all countries amounted to $5.7 billion, with an outflow of $4  billion, resulting in a net inflow of $1.7 billion. There was a  significant slowdown in growth in both the inflow - from 2.5 times to  9.7%, and in the outflow - from 2.1 times to 55%. This decline  worsened the dynamics of the net inflow from an unprecedented growth  of 3 times to a 36% decline. Russia's share in the inflow remained at  69%, while decreasing in the outflow to 16%. The United States saw a  decrease in both the inflow and outflow, with a share of 12% in each.