On July 30, during a press conference on the refinancing rate, Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Martin Galstyan announced a significant decrease in the number of citizens traveling to Russia for work.
Galstyan noted that the decline in interest in working in Russia could be attributed to the narrowing wage gap between Armenia and Russia, especially in sectors like construction, which employs many migrant workers.
"Secondly, the change in the ruble-to-dram exchange rate over the past year and a half to two years means that when converting their earnings into Armenian drams, migrant workers find their income only slightly higher than what they could earn working in Armenia," he explained.
In light of this, the Central Bank is considering a scenario in which the labor force in Armenia could increase as more citizens choose to work domestically rather than abroad.
It is worth noting that traditionally, tens of thousands of Armenian citizens go to Russia for work, sending their earnings back home through commercial banks. Recently, the volume of remittances sent to Armenia via banks has shown a downward trend.
Earlier, BMG reported that in May 2024, individuals received about 416 million dollars in remittances from abroad through Armenian commercial banks, which is 4.5% less than in the same period last year. The majority of these transfers come from Russia.
