The volume of cross-border money transfers to Uzbekistan in the first half of 2024 grew by 25%, the Central Bank chairman Mamarizo Nurmuratov said at a press conference on 25 July.
The figure reached $6.5 billion, up from $5.2 billion in January-June 2023. This is more than twice the Central Bank’s preliminary forecasts made in December and April. The regulator expected an increase of 11−12%.
Because of expansion of the geography of labor migration, remittances from Russia, traditionally main destination for labor migrants from Uzbekistan, decreased from 81−82% in 2022 to 77%, amounting to $4.95 billion.
“There is a decline [from Russia], we see it in the quantity of money transfers,” head of the Central Bank said. He added that the value of individual transactions had also been showing a decline.
Transfers from Kazakhstan grew to $347 million, from the United States to $271 million (+43%) and from South Korea to $267.3 million (+90%). Additionally, money transfers from Germany increased by 64%, and from Poland by 93%.
Напомним, что по итогам 2022 года доля России в денежных переводах составляла около 87%, а в 2023 году снизилась до 78%.
In 2023, Russia’s share in money transfers to Uzbekistan made up 78%, decreasing to about 87% in 2022.
Last December, the World Bank noted a gradual decline in the volume of money transfers from Russia to Uzbekistan, explaining this by a reduction of the number of Uzbekistani labor migrants in Russia, strengthening the exchange rate of the Uzbek soum against the ruble and the rising inflation in Russia.
In January, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed to prepare about 100,000 citizens for employment in foreign countries through organized recruitment. Later, the Agency for external labor migration announced the recruitment of 50,000 people for work in Germany alone. Vacancies have also been offered in South Korea, Poland, the UK and other countries.
