Migration in the Russian Federation: A Country Profile 2008 - EU ...

3.2. Qualitative aspects of remittances
Formal transfers are made through money transfer systems and through the
Russian Postal Service. Money transfer operators (MTOs) represent a growing
market given the improvements in macroeconomic conditions, the proliferation
of advanced technologies, and the liberalization of such markets in the country
and in the region. 38 Nevertheless, many transfers occur through other channels,
such as financial and credit institutions with links to organized crime organizations,
or using the services of Russian nationals in order to escape the widespread
phenomenon of migrant workers falling prey to swindlers. 39
As previously mentioned, the amount of remittances being sent to Russia
in 2006 was 0.3 per cent of the GDP. 40 In-kind remittances were also sent. These
remittances were of greatest importance to vulnerable groups such as pensioners,
single persons, and one-parent families, among others. Generally, remittances
were important sources of income in the beginning of the 1990s, when the standard
of living sharply decreased immediately following the fall of Communism
and emigration from Russia was about ten times higher than today.
As to the specific use of the received money transfers, no data were found
as to their use for investment vis-à-vis consumption.
Aside from the transfer payment system (MTOs, Russian Postal Service)
and banking system, traditional transfer channels (for example, bringing the
money by hand) are used. According to CBR estimates, the share of the money
personally brought through the border in 2005 did not exceed 20 per cent of the
officially registered transfers.
In Russia , remittances that are directed outside the country have received
much more public attention than the flows from abroad into Russia. As the remittance
flows out of the country have grown much larger than the money known to
have been sent to Russia, this has made the mass media, politicians, and officials
critical of remittances given the seeming imbalance between the amount received
by and sent from Russia. Experts, however, point out that remittances only play a
marginal role in weakening the external balance of payments.
38 Quillin, Bryce, Carlo Segni, Sophie Sirtaine and Ilias Skamnelos ( 2007) op. cit., p. 5
39 Tishkov, Valery, Zhanna Zayinchkovskaya and Galina Vitkovskaya (2005) Migration in the Countries of the
Former Soviet Union, op. cit., p.29.
40 World Bank, Development Prospects Group (2006)
6 Migration in the Russian Federation: A Country Profile 2008