DUSHANBE, October 11, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Remittances made from Russia to Tajikistan through formal channels over the first half-year of 2011 have reportedly amounted to more than one billion U.S. dollars.

Russia central bank reports that over the second quarter of this year alone, 742 million U.S. dollars have been remitted from Russia to Tajikistan.  An average amount of one remittance made over the report period from Russia to Tajikistan was US$366.00.

Over the report period, Tajikistan was second among the CIS nations in terms of remittances made from Russia, following Uzbekistan.  1.067 billion U.S. dollars were remitted from Russia to Uzbekistan in April-June 2011.

Ukraine is also among the top three CIS nations in terms of remittances from the Russian Federation; US$603 million have been remitted from Russia to Ukraine over the second quarter of this year.

In all, US$4.359 billion have been remitted form the Russian Federation to other countries over the same thee-month period; of this amount, US$3.774 billion have been remitted to the CIS nations.

We will recall that 438 million U.S. dollars have been remitted from Russia to Tajik banks over the first three months of this year; in all, 1.18 billion U.S. dollars have been remitted from Russia to banks Tajikistan over the first half year of 2011.

According to various data, an estimated 1.5 million Tajik seasonal workers travel abroad each year, primarily to Russia, seeking better employment opportunities.  Labor migrants are a critical component in Tajikistan’s economy and their remittances keep many struggling families at home above the poverty line, and help to alleviate the stress caused by a lack of domestic job opportunities.  Every year, labor migrants reportedly remit some 2 billion U.S. dollars to Tajikistan.