May 2020: money transfers to Georgia down 9.6%

Georgia received $131.8 million from abroad in May 2020, which is 9.6 per cent less than the amount in May 2019, says the National Bank of Georgia (NBG).

The vast majority (92.8%) of all money transfers from abroad came from 14 countries, with the volume of transfers from these countries each exceeding $1 million last month. The share of these 14 countries constituted 89.9 per cent of the total volume of money transfers.

Italy, Russia and Greece were the largest remittance senders in Georgia in April 2020. Georgia received $27.59 million from Italy, $19.77 million from Russia and $18.82 million from Greece.

After Italy, Russia and Greece, other countries regularly sending money transfers to Georgia in May 2020 included:

• United States – $15.21 million
• Israel – $11.28 million 
• Turkey – $7.42 million
• Germany – $5.34 million 
• Ukraine – $3.67 million 
• Azerbaijan – $3.56 million
• Spain – $3.23 million
• Poland – $2.02 million
• France – $1.86 million
• Canada - $1.39 million
• UK - $1.03 million

In May 2020, remittances leaving Georgia totalled $13.6 million, which is a 33.7 per cent decrease year-on-year.