Non-commercial overseas money transfers to Armenia amounted to US$ 1.208 billion, a drop of $520 million in 2015 in comparison to 2014, this according to the country’s National Statistical Service (NSS).

Most of these transfers originate in Russia. It’s the money Armenians who have found work in Russia send to assist their friends and families back home.

Another statistic issued by Armenia’s Central Bank is the amount of foreign transfers that have been processed by banks in Armenia. This figure for 2015 is US$ 1.624 billion, and has dropped by some $500 million from 2014.

Over the past ten years, private money transfers from Russia to Armenia have constantly grown. The only exception was 2009 – the year the international financial crisis hit.

A decrease was registered in 2014, the year the Russian ruble started its current devaluation cycle.

Here are the figures for non-commercial transfers from Russia to Armenia:

2005 - $541 million

2006 - $739 million

2007 - $1.078 billion

2008 - $1.371 billion

2009 - $904 million

2010 - $1.062 billion

2011 - $1.295 billion

2012 - $1.444 billion

2013 - $1.607 billion

2014 - $1.434 billion

2015 – $916 million

Non-commercial transfers (NCTs) also come from Germany, France, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Spain, UAE, China and Turkey; but on a much smaller scale.

Such transfers from all these countries combined were greatest in 2008, the year before the financial crash, amounting to $203 million. In 2015, total NCTs amounted to $171 million.

The United States also supplies a small segment of overall NCTs to Armenia. The amount was $119 in 2015.