KHOROG, April 11, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Over the first three months of this year, labor migrants have remitted little more than 4.8 million US dollars to banks in Gorno Badakhshan, which is nearly 1.7 million dollars fewer than in the same period of last yea, the deputy governor of Gorno Badakhshan, Aziz Giyoyev, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

In January-March 2008, labor migrations remitted 6.5 million US dollars to banks in the region, the deputy governor said.

According to him, financial crisis in the Russian Federation has resulted in labor migrants’ remittances the GBAO banks decreasing.

In 2008, labor migrants working in Russia remitted more than 36.6 million dollars to banks in Gorno Badakhshan, which was 13.2 million dollars more than in 2007.

According to the GBAO directorate for employment, migration and social protection of the population, some 24,000 residents of Gorno Badakhshan, or 12 percent of the population of the region, currently work outside the country; 23,000 of them are in the Russian Federation.