DUSHANBE, February 5, 2016, Asia-Plus – Russian money transfer systems have reportedly refused to send Russian rubles to Tajikistan.

Offices of Zolotaya Korona and Leader, which are the most popular Russian systems for transferring money among Tajik senders, have confirmed this information.

“Since Tajikistan introduced certain restrictions on February 2, Russian money transfer systems have stopped to send the Russian ruble (RR) remittances to Tajikistan,” representatives of these money transfer systems told Asia-Plus on February 5.

Henceforth, amounts will be converted into other currencies – the dollar, the euro or the somoni -- at the money transfer offices and only after that the remittances will be issued, Zolotaya Korona and Leader representatives added.

We will recall that the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) has announced that starting from February 2, remittances that are sent to local banks in Tajikistan in Russian rubles are given out in the somoni.

Tajik central bank reportedly issued this order for local lending agencies for the purpose of supporting the national currency, the somoni.

Meanwhile, an official source at the NBT has noted that the order does not apply to remittances made in other foreign currency.

“The RR remittances will be given out in the somoni if they are made without opening a bank account,” the source added.