Скачать или смотреть Russian ruble crisis affects migrant workers

(25 Feb 2015) Many families in Kyrgyzstan are suffering the consequences of Russia's ruble crisis as employment dries up and migrant workers leave to return to Central Asia.
Russia's economy has entered recession for the first time since 2009, hit by the double impact of weaker energy prices as well as Western sanctions over its role in Ukraine.
The ruble lost more than half of its value in the past year, much of it in the autumn.
Daniyar Anarbayev is one of those who had to come back home as the value of his salary shrank due to the weak ruble.
Anarbayev is an Economics graduate and also holds a degree in law, but in Russia he could only find a job as a general labourer at a construction site.
After working almost eight years in a small town outside Moscow he returned to his two sons and his mother, who had been taking care of his children while he and his wife worked.
Russian authorities also have introduced new, harsher rules for obtaining a work permit and increased its costs.
"Everything is expensive in Moscow. When we arrived there (in 2007) the situation was better," recalled Anarbayev.
He added that that competition with migrants from other countries has only worsened the situation.
His wife has managed to stay in Russia for now, but if the economic situation doesn't improve, both of them would have to find a job back home, Anarbayev said.
Kyrgyzstan depends heavily on money sent home by migrant labour in Russia - with over 20 percent of its GDP made up of such remittances.
Officially there are over 540-thousand Kyrgyz migrant workers in Russia and the number of those working illegally may be the same.
According to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Labour and Migration, in 2014 the remittances from Russia to Kyrgyzstan totaled 2.167 billion US dollars.
However, these figures are based on official bank transfers and don't fully represent the real amounts that include money brought home in person.
"This year we expect a possible decline up to 20 percent (of the income) from the migrants," said Nasirdin Shamshiyev, head of department for macroeconomic policy at the Kyrgyz Economic Ministry.
Kyrgyzstan is not the only country in Central Asia whose economy relies on money sent from migrant workers.
Data released by the World Bank showed that remittances from Russia comprised a significant part of the GDP in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
If the ruble continues to drop in 2015 hundreds of thousands of migrant workers will be forced to look for income sources at home, which can turn into a major political and economic problem for the region.

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