In 2022, remittances from Russia to Uzbekistan are likely to reach record highs, the World Bank said in a report.

In January-August 2022, remittances to Uzbekistan almost doubled compared to the same period last year, with Russia accounting for 80% of total inflows (54% in 2021). A similar situation is observed in other countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

For many countries in the region, Russia was the main source of remittances, accounting for more than half of total remittances to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and more than 20 percent for Georgia and Belarus.

“It was anticipated that remittances to the CIS would plummet in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan likely received record high amounts of remittances from Russia in 2022, as the number of migrant workers in Russia from Central Asia remained strong (in part due to a strong ruble),” the report says.

For Uzbekistan, it is reported that a substantial part of this increase reflects migrant workers’ greater use of formal channels to send money home, resulting in the improved recording of cross-border flows.