Ukrainians who live and work abroad sent $7.5 billion back home in 2012, including over $1 billion illegally in cash. These are the estimates of the National bank of Ukraine, made public on April 3.
“In
2012 the value of private money transfers to Ukraine from abroad grew
by 7.2 per cent and stood at $7.5 billion,” reads the statement
of the National Bank.
There
are an estimated 3 million Ukrainians working abroad, Sergiy Tigipko,
the then minister for social issues, said in September.
Their
money transfers from abroad exceeded direct foreign investments to
Ukraine in 2012 which stood at $6 billion, according to the State
Statistics Committee. Most of the foreign investment comes from
Cyprus, which until recently was a popular offshore destination for
Ukrainian businessmen.
Most
of the private transfers, about 70 percent, came from Russia, USA,
Germany, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Britain, reflecting the geography
of destinations where Ukrainians seek better employment.
The National Bank said
that the share of
Ukrainians who prefer to send money back home in cash is growing.
While 43 percent of the money was send directly via banks, 13.9 per
cent arrived to Ukraine illegally in cash. For comparison, in 2011
Ukrainians sent $963 million illegally in cash.
Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected]
