In the first half of 2025, Russia led in  transfers to Armenia, while  the UAE and Switzerland led in outflows

ArmInfo.  In the first half of 2025, the net inflow of private transfers to Armenia decreased to 1.3% annually (compared to a decline of 33.7% the previous year),  totaling $587.6 million. Specifically, the inflow increased by 9.2%  to $2.8 billion, while the outflow increased by 12.4% to $2.2  billion. Additionally, there is an opposite trend in the dynamics of   inflow and outflow of non- commercial transfers - the former grew by  9.8% (to $520.7 million), while the latter decreased by 5.2% (to $208  million), resulting in a 22.6% increase in net inflow to $312.7  million.

 According to the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, the  largest volume of transfers comes to Armenia from Russia and the  United States (a total of $2.1 billion), and flows out to the UAE and  Switzerland (a total of $686.8 million). In the first half of the  year, the leading inflow of transfers from Russia amounted to $1.8  billion (annual growth of 8%),  the USA followed in second place -  $327.6 million (annual growth of 0.7%),  Great Britain came in third-  $103.7 million (annual growth of 2.5 times), Switzerland was in  fourth place - $66.5 million (annual growth of 44.3%) and the UAE was  in fifth place - $49.9 million (annual decline of 22%). The leader in  the outflow of transfers from Armenia is the UAE - $343.5 million  (annual decline of 3.1%), followed by Switzerland with $343.3 million  (annual growth of 2.8 times), Russia with $339.3 million (annual  growth of 12%),  the USA with $289.2 million (annual growth of 5.7%),  and Spain with  $93.3 million (annual growth of 27%). Over the year  Russia's share has decreased in both the inflow from 65% to 64.3%,  and in  the outflow - from 15.7% to 15.6%. The UAE's share in the  inflow is still negligible - it was 2.5% now 1.8%, while in the  outflow it has decreased from 18.4% to 15.8%. The US share decreased  both in the inflow from 12.9% to 11.9% and in the outflow from 14.2%  to 13.3%. Switzerland's share in the inflow did not increase much -  from 1.8% to 2.4%, but in the outflow it jumped from 6.3% to 15.8%.  The UK's share increased both in the inflow - from 1.7% to 3.8%, and  in the outflow - from 2.9% to 3.7%. Spain's share did not change much  in the inflow - from 0.5% to 0.6%, but increased more noticeably in  the outflow - from 3.8% to 4.3%.

 A year ago Russia led in the inflow of transfers, while the UAE took  over the lead in the outflow. The latter, according to experts, was  due to "gray transactions" involving gold and diamonds, as the UAE  accounted for the main re-export of precious metals and stones, the  re-import of which came from Russia.  Specifically, customs data show  that majority of diamonds and gold imported from Russia is then  exported mainly to the UAE. In 2024, the lion's share of the total  import of diamonds and gold came from Russia - 73% and 99.4%,  respectively, and the dominant export of these precious metals and  stones came from the UAE market (74.8% diamonds and 70.2% gold). A  similar trend was seen at the end of 2023, when 46.7% of diamonds and  99.2% of gold came from Russia, which were mainly exported to the UAE  (84.6% diamonds and 71.4% gold). Since 2025, it has become impossible  to conduct such transactions in the previous volume due to the  settlement of the issue of customs duties on jewelry products within  the EAEU.  It is known that since 2020, the Russian Federation has  more than three times submitted a proposal to the EEC to zero out the  import customs value for colored precious stones and small-sized  diamonds up to 0.2 carats. But the issue has not been resolved -  Armenia has blocked the zeroing of duties.

Due to the import customs duty on precious stones, it was much more  profitable to import finished jewelry from third countries that are  not members of the EAEU than to produce it within the union. The  import duty rate on finished jewelry is lower than the rates on  precious stones (10-15%) for their production. However, since 2025,  this "high-yield" effect has been lost. Russia has zeroed out duties  on the import of jewelry from the UAE.  It should be noted that in  2024, the inflow of transfers to Armenia from all countries exceeded  $5.8 billion (including $1.01 billion of non-commercial nature),  while the outflow was $4.3 billion (including $440 million of  non-commercial nature), with the former growing by 2.5% and the  latter by 7.1%. As a result, the net inflow of private transfers to  Armenia in 2024 decreased by 9% - to $ 1.5 billion. Moreover, for  non-commercial transfers, the decline in net inflow was more  impressive, dropping by 35% to $ 573.5 million. The share of the  latter in the total net inflow decreased from 53% to 38%.over the  year . Russia's share in the inflow decreased from 69% to 66%r while  remaining at 16% in the outflow. The UAE's share in the inflow is  still minimal, increasing from 1.3% to 2%, while in the outflow it  rose from 14% to 20%.  The US share in the inflow remained at 12%,  and in the outflow it was increased from 12% to 14%.