YEREVAN, February 19. /ARKA/. Remittance inflow to Armenia in 2024 is very likely to  drop by  about 15% from 2023, while the remittance outflow will continue to grow, economist Aghasi Tavadyan believes.

"Aggregate bank remittances in 2023 registered a growth of 9.7%, compared to a substantial 2.5-fold increase in 2022. However, there is a sharp decline in bank money transfers from halfway through 2023. In 2023, the outflow of money through the banking system increased by 55% compared to 2022," he wrote in a Facebook post.

Tavadyan notes that in 2023, 69.3% of individuals' remittances through Armenia's banks ($3,946 million) were from the Russian Federation, while 11.6% were from the United States ($663 million). 

"In 2023, some 81.4% of remittances received from Russia were for non-commercial purposes," he added.

According to official data, in 2023 the inflow of private cross-border remittances amounted to $5.7 billion (+9.7% YoY), remaining at historically high levels. In 2022 their inflow amounted to $5.1 billion against $1.9 billion, on average, per year in 2018-2021.

According to the Central Bank of Armenia, private remittances from Russia amounted to $3.94 billion versus $3.6 billion in 2022. Remittances from the United States dropped to $663.2 million from $670.9 million and remittances from Switzerland grew to $140.8 billion from $95.7 million.

Remittances from Armenia to Russia grew to $641.4 million from $453 million in 2022, remittances to UAE surged to $571 million from $275.3 million, and remittances to the United States grew to $465 million from $327.8 million.

Net cross-border remittance inflows in 2023 stood at $1.65 billion vs. $2.58 billion in 2022. -0-