Azernews.Az

BAKU – Money worth about $959 million were sent to Azerbaijani citizens from abroad in January-September 2010, or 13.4 percent over the same period of last year, according to the country’s central bank.

But the World Bank said in a recent report that the funds sent to Azerbaijan from other countries amounted to $1.472 billion, a 15 percent increase compared to the 2009 figure.

The Azerbaijan Central Bank estimates that citizens received the most funds from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Turkey.

In Armenia, another South Caucasus republic, with which Azerbaijan faces a long-standing conflict, citizens received about $1.1 billion from abroad in the nine-month period. The figure is 3.7 percent down in comparison with the same period of 2009, the country’s central bank said. The most money came from Russia - $752 million, while $90.7m was wired from the United States, and $19.8m from the United Arab Emirates.

An average of $1.5bn is sent to Armenia every year.

For comparison’s sake, revenues of Armenia’s budget stand at around $1.9bn.

The country’s budgetary expenses exceed revenues and make up $2.2bn.