Kazakhstan reports drop in inflow of money transfers

According to the National Bank, the amount of money transferred to Kazakhstan through international money transfer systems in September was 2.9 times lower than in August.

The regulator reviewed money transfers by services such as Zolotaya Korona, Western Union, Contact, Faster and MoneyGram, among others. Almost all banks in Kazakhstan provide such services, along with Kazpost which has a banking license. Sending and receiving money doesn’t require opening an account in either Kazakhstan or a foreign country.

Typically, residents of Kazakhstan use money transfer services for cross-border transactions. In September, these transactions accounted for 93.1% of the total number of money transfers (230,500 transactions) and 95.2% of the total sum transferred ($198 million). These figures show a month-on-month decline of 4% and 5.6%, respectively. Year-on-year, the number of transfers increased by 2.4%, while the total sum of transferred money decreased by 0.8%. Uzbekistan (31.1%), Russia (23.5%) and Turkey (21.7%) were the most popular destinations for money transfers.

From abroad, Kazakhstanis received $51.8 million (a 10.1% increase) in 80,100 transactions (a 1% decline). Year-on-year figures have also shown a 50.6% and 65.5% decline, respectively. Russia (28.3%), Uzbekistan (12.2%) and the U.S. (11.9%) were the most popular countries for money transfers to Kazakhstan.

The most popular money transfer service, Zolotaya Korona, accounted for 80.8% of all money transfers from Kazakhstan abroad and 52.5% of transfers from abroad to Kazakhstan. Contact (12%) and Western Union (5%) were the most popular services for sending money, while Western Union (26.2%) and MoneyGram (13.5%) were the most popular for receiving money from abroad.