NBU: Ukrainian refugees abroad spend more than a billion dollars every month

Starting from April 2023, the total level of monthly expenses of Ukrainians abroad has been stable at a level slightly higher than 1.3 billion dollars. In particular, the monthly expenses of Ukrainians for personal purposes exceed 1 billion dollars.

This is stated in the material of RBC-Ukraine.

The statistics of the National Bank of Ukraine allow us to track how the volume and structure of spending by Ukrainians abroad has changed since the start of the full-scale war.

According to the publication, NBU statistics do not «distinguish» the expenses of Ukrainians who were abroad before the start of the great war, and those who left after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. And we are talking exclusively about bank card transactions.

In January 2022, on the eve of the great war, Ukrainians abroad spent 698 million dollars. The lion's share of these funds, namely 509 million dollars, is identified by the National Bank as funds spent on business trips. And only $189 million was spent on personal goals.

The situation was similar in February 2022. Of the 812 million dollars spent by Ukrainians abroad, 545 million were spent on business trips and only 267 million were spent on personal purposes.

But the situation changed drastically in March. The total amount of spending by Ukrainians abroad increased sharply (doubled) to 1.627 billion dollars. At the same time, the share of expenses for business trips decreased compared to «peaceful» months - to 408 million dollars. And the share of personal expenses grew almost fivefold — to 1.219 billion dollars.

In May, the total expenses of Ukrainians abroad already reached 1.927 billion dollars. Of them, 1.503 billion are for personal purposes.

Until February 2023, the total monthly expenses of Ukrainians abroad were around 1.8 to 2 billion dollars, crossing the two billion mark in January 2023. At the same time, spending on personal goals was kept in the range from 1.4 to 1.6 billion dollars every month.

As the publication notes, the pattern of expenses changed in March 2023. After almost 2 billion dollars in total expenses in February, in March the volume of expenses decreased to about 1.6 billion. And since April, the total level of monthly expenses of Ukrainians abroad has been stable at a level slightly higher than 1.3 billion dollars.

A similar trend is observed with spending on personal goals, with spending barely exceeding $1 billion every month starting in April 2023.

According to data announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Ukrainian entrepreneurs working in Poland paid taxes and social insurance contributions to the Polish budget in 2022-2023 for a total of 2.3 billion euros.

At the same time, Denys Shmyhal added that Ukrainians who came to Poland used their bank cards to pay in Polish stores and left 4 billion euros to Polish businesses.

It will be recalled that the head of the Mykolayiv RMA in an interview with the TV channel «We — Ukraine» said that Ukrainians who went abroad and do not pay taxes in Ukraine should live modestly and send more funds to help the Armed Forces.