Georgian banks have stopped working with the Russian money-transfer company Unistream immediately after the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Moscow-based firm on July 20. With an average 30-35% of total share, Unistream has been a leader of money transfer systems on Georgian financial market. However, money transfers statistics of July shows that Unistream’s share already drop from June’s 21.8% to 12%.
Money transfer system Ria, a subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide, Inc., overtook Unistream as a leader in Georgia. The company’s share reached 21.5% in July, up from 17.5% of June.
Ria has been followed by Russian Zolotaya Korona, its share increased to 18.3% in July from June’s 16.1%. Western Union is third, with 15.1%, up from 11.8%. Money gram shared 14.8%, from 12.6%. Intel Express - 10.7%, from 9.2%.
Today, the National Bank of Georgia has published money transfers statistics in July 2023. According to NBG, the volume of money transfers from abroad constituted 303.6 million USD (788.7 million GEL), which is 0.8% (2.5 million USD) less than the amount in July 2022.
96.7% percent of the total money transfers from abroad came from 26 largest partner countries, with the volume of transfers from these countries each exceeding 1 million USD in July 2023.
Top countries by remittances was as follows: Russian Federation - USD 73.82 million, Italy – USD 45.34 million, USA - USD 40.03 million, Greece - USD 21.64 million, Germany - USD 20.54 million, Israel - USD 17.75 million and Kazakhstan - USD 16.38 million.
In July 2023, 28.6 million USD (or 74.4 million GEL) was transferred from Georgia, which is 2.8% more as compared to 27.8 million USD in July 2022.
