DUSHANBE, July 14, 2015, Asia-Plus -- Remittance flows to Tajikistan are reportedly continuing to decline.

Chairman of Amonatbonk (Tajikistan’s savings bank), Ruhullo Hakimzoda, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 14 that little more than 173.7 million U.S. dollars have been remitted to Amonatbonk’s branches over the first six months of this year, which was 39.6 percent fewer than in the same period last year.

According to him, physical entities remitted more than 288 million U.S. dollars to Amonatbonk’s branches in January-June last year.

Hakimzoda attributed the decline in remittance flows to economic crisis in the Russian Federation that was caused by sanctions imposed by the Western countries on Russia, which is the main destination country for Tajik labor migrants.

The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) notes that over the first quarter of this year, remittance flows to Tajikistan have declined by 42 percent compared to the same period last year.

Tajikistan, which sends approximately one-half of its working age males to labor in Russia, is the most remittance-dependent country in the world.

Labor migrants still remain a critical component in the economy of Tajikistan and remittances play a significant role in supporting the country’s economic activity.   

Thus, last year’s remittance flows to Tajikistan were estimated to account for 45 percent of country’s gross domestic product, which stood at 45.6 billion somoni (equivalent to 8.6 billion USD) in 2014.