Ukrainians working abroad send home more than $5 billion per quarter, double the central bank estimate

Ukrainians working abroad send home more than $5 billion per quarter, double the central bank estimate, says Vladislav Kravets, chairman of RwSbank, a private bank. He writes on his bank’s web site: “According to the Asian Development Bank, about 80% of transfers are made through the physical transfer of money across borders by migrants, their friends, relatives or other persons for transfer to families of clients.” Only 20% goes through banks or money transfer systems, he adds. Yakiv Smolii, governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, estimates Ukraine’s migrant workers will remit “more than $11 billion” this year.