The review for remittances market of Russia for the first quarter of 2015 was prepared by the agency TMT Consulting and Analytical Center of payment system CONTACT.

According to the review, the volume of remittances from Russia to Uzbekistan decreased by 49% year-on-year in the first quarter 2015 and reached US$0.46 billion. At the same time, the volume of remittances in opposite direction rose by 10% to US$0.15 billion in the reporting period.

The review said that total turnover of the remittance of the Russian market made up US$3.1 billion in the first quarter of 2015, which fell by 36% year-on-year.

This is connected with the fall of the Russian ruble’s rate. The rate of dollar to the ruble rose by 64% in a year. The market recorded 13% growth in the ruble.

The review noted that the growth in ruble can be explained with the fact that foreign migrants did not leave Russia despite difficult economic situation in the country. According to official data, about 10.9 million foreign citizens are in Russia as of the end of the first quarter of 2015, which rose by 1.7% year-on-year. Number of foreigners, who entered Russia, rose by 6%. The document said that about 2/3 of remittances are transactions, conducted by labour migrants.

At the same time, the remittances from foreign states to Russia rose slightly. The review said that the money transferred to Russia to buy goods and real estate, prices of which fell.

About 84% of remittances or US$1.8 billion were sent to countries, located near Russia. Uzbekistan and Tajikistan account half of remittances. According to official data, about 2.1 million citizens of Uzbekistan and 1 million citizens of Tajikistan are in Russia.

The review underlined that almost all CIS states recorded slump in the volume of sent remittances from Russia at the level of 40-50%.

The authors of the review forecasted that the remittances market of Russia will decrease by 28% in 2015 to US$31.9 billion.