Moscow – The transfers of money made by migrant workers in Russia have become the focus of increasing attention from the authorities and public opinion in the country, in light of official reports and estimates stating that the volume of money flows abroad is a great danger to the Russian economy.
Alexander Gorovoy, the first deputy of the Russian Interior Minister, revealed that the share of the transfer money from migrant workers in Russia represents about 25% of the gross domestic product of a number of countries.
He explained that 80% of these countries belong to the Association of Independent Countries (Republics that constitute the Soviet Union), noting that financial transfers from Tajik workers – for example – constituted about 45% of the GDP of Tajikistan.
As for the World Bank, it confirmed in its data that this indicator is the highest in the world in terms of relative value, as the percentage in Kyrgyzstan reached 24%, and in Uzbekistan 14% of the GDP of each of them.
For his part, Sergey Mirunov, the head of the “Russia Fair – for the truth”, stated that the flow of money abroad represents a serious problem for Russia, pointing out that immigrants from neighboring countries often work illegally, and do not pay taxes, while sending most of their income to their countries of origin.
Mirunov also indicated that these workers, by sending money abroad, serve the economies of their countries at the expense of the Russian economy, calling for “compensation” in the form of special fees on financial transfers.
Benefits in exchange for damages
Russian experts say that the remittances of migrant workers from Russia contribute greatly to reducing poverty levels in Central Asian countries, as these workers can double their income of up to 3 times thanks to job opportunities in Russia, which improves the standard of living of their families significantly.
For example, the World Bank stated that the poverty rate in Kyrgyzstan decreases to less than 10% among families receiving financial transfers, while it would exceed 50% had it not been for these transfers.
As for Uzbekistan, the bank estimated that the absence of these transfers would have led to a rate of poverty from 9.6% to 16.8%.
But on the other hand, these figures indicate negative effects on the Russian economy, which requires urgent action.
Economist André Zevsv confirms that Russia, in light of its suffering from an increasing shortage of funds allocated for economic and social development, cannot bear the exit of capital in these large quantities, especially in light of the current financial sanctions and pressures, as capital exports are no longer met by sufficient imports to compensate for losses.
Speaking to Al -Jazeera, Zevsv stressed the need to distinguish between legal financial transfers and smuggling of funds, explaining that the transfers take place within a legal framework, while smuggling represents an explicit violation, but both cases lead to similar negative economic results.
He explained that the biggest problem is that a large part of the workers who send money abroad are illegally residing within the country.
He cited statistics stating that until February 5 of this year, about 67,000 immigrants from Kyrgyzstan were registered on the list of monitoring persons due to violations of immigration laws, and this number increased by an additional 20 thousand by the end of the same month, which makes the issue of illegal workers a standing challenge in itself, along with its direct economic damage.
He added that, according to various estimates, more than 6 million labor immigrants in Russia, a large number of them “purchased” high -cost work permits, reflecting an informal economic reality that includes a wide group of workers illegally.
Pierced
For its part, the researcher at the Kid Economic Analysis Center, Svetlana Saturgina, suggests taking a range of short and long -term measures to counter the flow of capital abroad.
These procedures are centered, according to what it stated to Al -Jazeera Net, about tightening control over the entry of migrant workers, and imposing mandatory deposits ranging from 10% and 15% of their income, which can be completely withdrawn only when the country’s residence and final departure period ends.
Saturgina believes that these measures would reduce the exit of difficult currencies at a time when Russia suffers from a sharp decline in revenue as a result of Western sanctions imposed on them.
Russia has described it as a “magnet” that attracts millions of expatriates from the former Soviet republics, especially the Central Asian republics, but this attraction is offset by an annual depletion of more than $ 13 billion due to financial transfers.
She pointed out that the issue is not only related to the exit of money, but also affects the periodic structure of the Russian economy, which suffers from a “pierced vein” through which funds are leakage equivalent to full budgets for some Russian regions, and over the years.
She concluded by saying that these funds could have been used to build dozens of schools, hospitals and development projects, support the national economy and provide local job opportunities, but instead they contribute to supporting the economies of other countries.
