Ukraine receives less money from employees: remittances fell by another 7%

Transfers of Ukrainians abroad continue to decrease

For January–June 2026, Ukraine received $3.684 billion of private transfers, which is 6.9%, or approximately $273 million, less than for the same period in 2025.

This was announced by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, Danylo Hetmantsev.

At the same time, the current decline is much smaller than a year ago. In the first half of 2025, the volume of private transfers decreased by 19.5%, that is why the rate of decline in revenues slowed down significantly.

Ukrainians began to transfer less money earned abroad

The part of remittances directly related to wages of Ukrainians temporarily working outside the country decreased the most.

During the year, such revenues decreased by 21.3%.

At the same time, private transfers — money and other financial assistance that Ukrainians receive from relatives and other persons from abroad — on the contrary, increased by 13.3%.

As a result, the share of private transfers exceeded half of the total volume of transfers.

How money transfer channels have changed

There were no significant changes in receipts through official channels. The volume of funds received through banks, international payment systems and postal operators remained approximately at last year's level.

Instead, they were significantly reduced informal transfers, in particular funds transferred in cash. During the year, their volume decreased by 17.6%.

Due to this, the share of official channels in the total volume of private transfers increased to 66.2%. At the same time, this growth occurred mainly due to a reduction in informal income, and not due to a sharp increase in bank transfers.

Why is less money coming in from abroad?

One of the possible reasons for such dynamics is called changes in labor migration of Ukrainians.

According to Hetmantsev, some Ukrainians could reduce their seasonal earnings abroad. At the same time, another part of Ukrainian families reunited outside of Ukraine.

This has a direct impact on the volume of transfers. If a person temporarily works abroad, he can transfer a significant part of the earned funds to his family in Ukraine. If she and her family live in another country for a long time, her income is mostly spent there.

A reduction in remittances may affect the Ukrainian economy

The reduction of private remittances is important not only because of the reduction of foreign currency inflows to Ukraine.

Such a trend may indicate gradual consolidation of a part of Ukrainians abroad. In the long term, this may affect the Ukrainian labor market, labor availability and domestic consumer demand.

At the same time, the growth of private transfers shows that Ukrainians abroad continue to financially support their families in Ukraine.

What happened last year

According to the results of 2025, through international payment systems, Ukraine received approx $2.5 billion.

The total volume of private transfers through official and unofficial channels exceeded $8 billion.

Thus, in 2026, Ukraine is faced not only with a reduction in remittances, but with by changing their structure: the earnings of Ukrainians abroad provide less funds, while the financial support of families is increasing.