Sanctions Trigger Collapse in Money Transfers from Russia to Kazakhstan

Transfers from Russia to Kazakhstan Fall Nearly 12-Fold

The volume of private money transfers between Russia and Kazakhstan declined sharply in August. According to the National Bank of Kazakhstan, transfers from Russia to Kazakhstan dropped nearly twelvefold to 239 million tenge (45.5 million rubles). The flow in the opposite direction fell by more than fourteen times, totaling 1.2 billion tenge (228.2 million rubles).

The decline was driven by sanctions imposed on RNKO Payment Center, the operator and settlement institution of the Zolotaya Korona money transfer system. As a result of these restrictions, Russia lost its previous position in Kazakhstan’s cross-border transfer structure. The country fell from second to fifth place in the volume of transfers from Kazakhstan and to ninth place in the opposite direction. Russia is now ranked behind China, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Germany, South Korea, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

Similar restrictions have also affected financial relations between Russia and Georgia. In August, transfers from Russia to Georgia totaled $5.1 million, reaching their lowest level in 20 years. Transfers from Georgia to Russia fell to zero in the same month for the first time since such records have been kept.

Photo: Magnific.

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