Moldovan central bank's governor says transfers from EU partially offset negative developments of remittances from CIS, other states
18:08 | 16.05.2019 Category: Economic
Chisinau, 16 May /MOLDPRES/ – The money transfers from the EU countries in favour of individuals partially offset the negative developments in remittances from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and other countries. The National Bank of Moldova's (BNM) Governor, Octavian Armasu, has specified today in presentation of Inflation Report №02, that transfers in U.S. dollars (USD) had a negative contribution amounting 9.1 percentage points (p.p.) in the first quarter of 2019, the ones in Russian roubles (RUB) decreased remittances by 3.0 p.p., while the euro (EUR) contributed to evolution of transfers by plus 5 p.p..
The official added that during the first quarter of 2019, the transfers in RUB and USD decreased by 46.1 per cent and 18.8 per cent accordingly, as compared to the same period of 2018. Also, the EUR transfers recorded an increase of 11.1 per cent. "The evolution of the transfers recorded during recent years has highlighted a geographical reorientation of money remittances towards the EU states," said Octavian Armasu.
According to him, the money transfers from abroad, after a reduction in absolute value recorded at the end of 2018, reversed their trend and these ones recorded $102.0 million in March 2019.
The BNM's data indicate that in the first quarter of 2019, the total volume of bank transfers of foreign funds to Moldovan individuals constituted $276.81 million, down 07 per cent compared to the first three months of 2018.
The transfers from EU registered a 44.5 per cent share, up 6.5 percentage points from the first quarter of 2018. The remittances from the CIS accounted for 21.5 per cent, down 7.7 percentage points, while transfers from other states accounted for 34 per cent of the total, compared with 32 per cent in the first quarter of 2018.