The latest report of the National Bank of Ukraine indicates a significant decrease in the amount of remittances that Ukrainians send to their homeland. In August 2024, the total volume of such transfers decreased by 15.9%, reaching $791 million. Since the beginning of the year, according to the NBU, the volume of transfers decreased by 14.3%, amounting to $6.5 billion.
From the official statistics of the National Bank of Ukraine for the last five years, it is clear that the peak of transfers in Ukraine was reached in the pre-war year 2021, and then people reduced their sending:
– 2019 – $11.92 billion;
– 2020 – $11.98 billion;
– 2021 – $14.0 billion;
– 2022 – $12.5 billion;
- 2023 - $11.3 billion.
After the start of the invasion of Ukraine, experts explained this reduction mostly by the main factor - the mass departure of refugees from the country and their adaptation abroad. Many people who worked abroad even before the war took their families to safe countries after the invasion began, and they simply had no one to send money to. This process is increasing from month to month, especially on the eve of the current heating season, which, if the authorities are to be believed, may prove to be the most difficult for the population during the entire time of the great war. And therefore, according to the results of 2024, the receipts to Ukraine are expected to be even less than the $11.3 billion recorded in 20203.
"I expect private remittances to drop to $9.6 billion," financial analyst Andriy Shevchyshyn predicted.
And bankers say that Ukrainians not only send fewer transfers, but also leave the Ukrainian banking system.
"At first, we observed that people who, after the start of the war, paid with cards abroad (left the country), began to reduce their expenses there - apparently, they were saving money. Then they began to contact the bank with the aim of closing the accounts, and during communication with our managers, when they were offered new packages and more favorable conditions, the refugees said that they simply did not need Ukrainian accounts anymore. Our people opened accounts in Western banks. Because they resigned from the enterprises in Ukraine (from which they received hryvnias for their accounts) and got a job at a new place. It makes no sense to prepare statements for accounts in Ukrainian banks (required by local social services to receive various benefits) and keep them at all - money no longer drips there. Therefore, it is easier for them to say goodbye to our bank and no longer be attached to the Ukrainian economy in principle. They now have a new life. We are getting more and more such explanations," said one of the system banks.
