Tourist information

Banks, Money and Money Transfers 

The banking system of the Republic of Abkhazia includes the National Bank of the Republic of Abkhazia (Bank of Abkhazia) and 15 commercial banks. The Savings Bank (Sberbank) of the Republic of Abkhazia has 23 offices in the country. There are currency exchange counters at all of these offices. The commercial banks also have currency exchange services in all major resort cities.

The Russian ruble is the official currency of the Republic of Abkhazia. The use of plastic cards for transactions is currently prohibited throughout the country; therefore there are also no ATMs in Abkhazia.

All banks in the Republic of Abkhazia offer money transfers denominated in rubles, U.S. dollars and euros (CONTACT, ANELIK, MIGOM, Zolotaya Korona and Interexpress systems) without requiring customers to open an account. The Western Union system does not operate in Abkhazia. All regional offices of Sberbank use the CONTACT system.

Only a passport is required to send or receive money using any of the systems. Money transfers can be made to Russia, within the CIS and to other countries. The time required for the transfer ranges from a few minutes (MIGOM) to 24 hours (CONTACT). Fees are limited to 2% for ruble transfers and 3% for foreign-currency transfers. There is no minimum for a transfer, but incoming and outgoing transfers are capped at 50,000 rubles or the foreign currency equivalent ($2000 or 1,500 euros) per operation.

The restrictions on foreign currency export from the Russian Federation that are set by existing Russian legislation apply on the territory of Abkhazia.

The limit for the undeclared import of foreign currency is $2000. Currency amounts over $2000 must be declared to the customs service. Permission from the Central Bank is required for amounts over $10,000.

Commercial Banks