Money transfers from abroad made in favor of individuals from the Republic of Moldova in the first quarter of 2019 came to US$276.81 million. About 83% of these were remitted via money transfer systems, mainly without opening bank accounts.
According to the National Bank of Moldova, the transfers recalculated in U.S. dollars decreased by 7.0% compared with the first quarter of 2018. The fluctuations in the exchange rate of original currencies against the U.S. dollar contributed 4.7% to the decrease in the value of transfers in the first quarter of 2019. However, the effective decrease in transfers was of 2.3%.
The transfers in U.S. dollars totaled 112.14 million, in euros - 152.83 million, in Russian rubles - 8.88 million, in other currencies - 2.96 million.
In terms of the geographical origin, money transfers from the EU represented 44.5% of the transfers, up 6.5% compared with the first quarter of 2018, those from the CIS region – 21.5%, down 7.7%, while those from other countries, except for the EU and CIS, - 34.0%, as opposed to 32.8% in the first quarter of 2018.
Among the transfers from the EU, remittances from Italy constituted 29%, being followed by transfers from Germany (16.6%), the UK (13.8%), France (10.2%), Spain (3.4 percent), Ireland (3.4%), etc. As regards the distribution by countries of money transfers from abroad in favor of individuals, transfers from Israel accounted for the largest share, representing 20.8% (US$57.71m) of all the transfers.
