Moldovan remittances continue to drop

Chisinau, 2 April /MOLDPRES/-According to data of the National Bank of Moldova (BNM), the amount of money transfers by natural persons is continuously decreasing. Natural persons (resident and non-resident) received 131 million dollars in the first two months of 2016 through Moldovan banks, 13 per cent less against the same period in 2015.

It is the lowest level in the last seven years, below the level of the 134.7-million-dollar remittances from abroad during the crisis of 2009. Remittances have been strongly decreasing over the past three years. Thus, an amount of 191 million dollars has been transferred to Moldova in 2014, 150 million dollars were transferred in the first two months of 2015 and only 131 million dollars were transferred in early 2016.

"Exchange rate fluctuations in original currencies against the U.S. dollar caused a decrease of 2.9 percentage points in the total decrease of transfers in February 2016, while the actual diminishing of transfers (without taking into account the exchange rate effect when recalculating the amounts over the respective period of time in 2015) reached 5.2 per cent,” BNM states.

The share of euro transfers overcame 50 per cent, dollar transfers accounted for 35.5 per cent and Russian ruble remittances decreased to 14.2 per cent.  

The amounts are recalculated by exchanging the original currency of the transfer into U.S. dollars at BNM’s official exchange rate on the data the transfer was made. It is to be noted that both the origin and destination of this money may be different. Besides the remittances of Moldovan citizens working abroad, it may also refer to other types of money transfers.  

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, “money transfers from abroad continue to be a significant source for the household budget. On average, remittances accounted for 17.4 per cent of the total income in 2015, 0.2 percentage points less against 2014”.

(Reporter V. Bercu, Editor L. Alcaza)