“Remittances in the balance-of- payments system of the Belarus Republic” Balance of Payments Department and Department on Settlement and E-Payment Instrument Control, the National Bank of the Belarus Republic Conference “Remittances: accuracy and benefits” Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyz Republic, September 2012

Content 1. Brief description and volume of remittances in the Republic of Belarus. Sources of information used for building up the items "Remuneration of Labor" and “Current Transfers” in the balance of payments of the Republic of Belarus. 2. Practical achievements of Belarus in the field of calculation and publication of personal transfer indicators. 3. Perspective and possibilities to improve the statistics in the field of collection of data on remittances in the Republic of Belarus

There are two types of receipts or payments related to the remittances: (1)transfer of income earned by workers in the country of which they are not residents, (2) transfer from a resident of one country to the resident of another country Brief description and volume of remittances in the Republic of Belarus

Sources of information for building-up the “Remuneration of Labor” item “Data on migrant workers, who moved into Belarus to work and on persons who left the country in search of work”, provided by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Belarus; The publication of the National Statistics Committee: “Number of workers in Belarus and the wages”; “Data on income from employment of the Belarus citizens involved in the economy of Russia”, provided by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation:

The item “Remuneration of Labor” in the Republic of Belarus

Sources of information for building-up the “Current Transfer” item The Bank Report Form 2209 “Information on international payments”: Operation Code transfers of physical persons Operation Code other current transfers ymentsInstr.rtf ymentsInstr.rtf Data by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (information on the workers’ money transfers and on other transfers between households)

International money-order systems operational in the retail market of the Republic of Belarus 1. Legal Framework: Belarus Bank Code (Instructions for the procedure of non-cash transfers via the private payment systems, approved by the decision of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus as of , № 87) 2. Under the law of Belarus, the parties of money transfers are banks and legal entities (non-residents) which have concluded contracts for participation in the international money-order system; Clients are physical and legal persons served by the parties in the operations on non-cash transfers. 3. At present, 17 international money-order systems operate in the retail market of Belarus: Western Union, Money Gram, UniStream, Contact, Leader, Anelik, Bystraya pochta, MIGOM, Interexpress, Zolotaya Korona, BLIZKO, Allure, Blin, FASTER, Сaspian Мoney Тransfer, Coinstar, PrivatMoney.

The item “Current Transfers” (the part connected with transfers of physical persons and other current transfers in other sectors)

Structure of physical persons’ transfers per country for 2011 (turnover)

Achievements of the Republic of Belarus in the area of calculation and publication of the indicators on personal transfers In 2012 the National Bank of Belarus started calculating and publishing the indicator “Personal transfers” as required in the Manual (6th edition) for building-up of the balance of payments and the international investment position. The first calculation was made for the 1-st six months of 2012.

Achievements of the Republic of Belarus in the area of calculation and publication of the indicators on personal transfers Personal Remittances Labor remuneration Income Tax Services under the item “Travels by temporary employees” Personal transfers Workers’ remittances Other transfers between households minus

Achievements of the Republic of Belarus in the area of calculation and publication of the indicators on personal transfers

Perspective and possibilities to improve the statistics in the field of collection of data on remittances in the Republic of Belarus 1. It is necessary to collect information on gross volume of physical persons’ remittances directly from the money-order systems, including data from the Belarus post service. 2. Given the open borders between Belarus and the Russian Federation and free movement of physical persons it is necessary to conduct household surveys with the view of employment of the Belarus citizens in the Russian Federation. 3. Identify informal channels used by migrants for transfer of money resources, with the view of improving the accounting. 4. Exchange the information at the interstate level. Regular (i.e., once a year) working meetings for verification of data on remittances between the countries.

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