YEREVAN. - The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) expects money transfers to increase this year, Vahe Vardanyan, CBA Head of the Financial Stability and Development Department, told journalists Tuesday.

With high oil prices, incomes are not expected to decrease in Russia, major source of money transfers to Armenia. Even a decrease in money transfers will not destabilize Armenia’s financial situation. Money transfers showed a decrease of about 41% in 2009, which caused credit repayment problems.

A total of $1 billion was transferred to Armenia last year, with 88% of the amount being from Russia.

In the pre-crisis period, noncommercial money transfers to Armenia by means of the Armenian banking system showed an annual increase of 30 to 40 per cent against a 24% increase in 2008 and a 41% decrease in 2009.