For the first 2 months in 2021, remittances from abroad in favor of individuals through banks totaled $219 million, which is an absolute record for Moldova for such a period of time - Veaceslav Ionita.
The IDIS Viitorul economic expert wrote about this in his blog, noting that the previous record was set in 2013, when remittances for the first 2 months of the year amounted to $203 million, and before that the peak was in the distant 2008 ($194 million). Veaceslav Ionita recalled that, according to IDIS Viitorul experts, through banks, labor migrants transfer to Moldova from abroad a maximum of 80% of the money, the rest is sent by road, bank cards issued abroad or by relatives and friends. In other words, the amount of money sent home by Moldovan migrant workers increases by another $55 million. To this amount, it is necessary to add at least the same amount of $55 million, which, according to experts, our citizens personally bring when they return to Moldova. “Thus, the total amount of money that came into the country from our citizens through all possible channels for the first 2 months of this year is at least $330 million,” Veaceslav Ionita wrote. “In our opinion, this growth is largely due to difficulties in transferring money informally, and in fact, the real volume of remittances has not increased. Only the part sent through banks has grown. In other words, the amount of money sent through banks has increased due to a decrease in the amount of money received through other channels in the country,” the expert emphasized. He recalled that in 2020 the total volume of money transfers to Moldova through banks reached $1 billion 487 million, which is the maximum value over the past 6 years. The absolute record by the volume of money transfers to Moldova from abroad in favor of individuals through commercial banks was registered in 2008 - $1 billion 660.09 million. // 25.03.2021 - InfoMarket.
