August 4 (SeeNews) - Remittances sent to Moldova by migrant workers rose 9.7% on the year to $551.7 million (466 million euro) in the first half of 2017, the central bank, BNM, said on Friday.
In the past five years, money transfers from Moldovan workers in the EU countries doubled to a share of 33% of the total volume of remittances, BNM said in a report posted on its website.
During the same period, the share of remittances from the the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Russia declined from two thirds of the total amount to about a third now. The remaining 30% of money transfers came from Israel, Turkey and the United States.
In the second quarter alone, remittances rose to $299.9 million from $230.44 million a year earlier.
An estimated one-third of Moldova's economically active population is currently working abroad, making remittances the single most important net source of foreign exchange currency in Moldova.
The foreign exchange reserves held by Moldova's central bank, BNM, increased by $53.09 million in the month of June, reaching $2.388 billion.
($ = 0.8442 euro)