In January 2011, the Moldovans working abroad officially sent over $71 million back home, which is $8 million more that in January last year, according to the National Statistics Bureau, Info-Prim Neo reports. Over $60 million were sent through international money transferred systems operating in Moldova. The amount of remittances sent in January 2011 is comparable to that sent in January 2009, but much lower than with the amount sent in January 2008, when it was nearly $90 million. Also, the amount sent in January is much smaller that what the expat Moldovans sent in December 2010, ahead of the Christmas season, when remittances topped $117 million. Yet the largest remittance figure in 2010 was registered in October – over $118 million. In 2010, the Moldovan working abroad sent over $1.2 billion.