Greece – second donor country for Georgia after Russia

Despite the ongoing financial crisis in Greece the country is still among the top donor countries in terms of volume of money transfers to Georgia, lagging only behind Russia.

Last month $13.8 million USD was transferred from Greece to Georgia, announced National Bank of Georgia (NBG), taking up 13.7 percent of all money transfers. This was less than was transferred in May when Georgia received $15.3 million.

Looking ahead there was big potential for this to change as the currency crisis hit Greece on July 1 therefore July remittances from Greece is estimated to drop significantly.

Meanwhile the amount of money transferred from Russia to Georgia continued to grow. Russia was the only country among the Georgia’s top 10 donor countries where the volume of remittances increased month-on-month. Specifically, in May Russia transferred $37.6 million in remittances to Georgia while in June $41.6 million was transferred, which was 41.5 percent of total money transfers.

Behind Russia and Greece, the remaining eight countries on the top 10 list showed a month-on-month decrease in money transfers to Georgia.

• Italy - $ 8.7 million ($9.6 million in May 2015);
• United States - $8.6 million; ($8.5 million in May 2015);
• Turkey - $6.7 million; ($6.3 million in May 2015);
• Israel – $2.7 million; ($2.4 million in May 2015);
• Germany – $2.1 million; ($2.2 million in May 2015);
• Spain - $2.1 million; ($2.3 million in May 2015);
• Ukraine – $1.6 million; ($1.7 million in May 2015);
• Kazakhstan - $1.3 million; ($1.2 million in May 2015);
• United Kingdom – $1.3 million; ($1.3 million in May 2015); and
• Azerbaijan - $1.2 million; ($1.4 million in May 2015).

In total, the volume of money transfers from abroad constituted 100.4 million USD (227.3 million GEL) in June 2015. This was 20.8 percent (26.3 million USD) less than in June 2014.

Last month about 91 percent of all money transfers from abroad came from 12 big donor countries, with the volume of transfers from of these countries exceeding $1 million USD. In June 2014 the share of these 12 countries constituted 93.6 percent of the total volume of money transfers.

Meanwhile in June 2015, $14.3 million (32.5 million GEL) was transferred out of Georgia while $14.1 million (25 million GEL) was transferred abroad in June 2014.