Money sent from Asian countries made up 50.5 per cent of the total overseas remittances to HCM City last year, Việt Nam’s largest economic hub, a massive 143.8 per cent spike year-on-year, according to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s branch in the city.

 

Inward remittances to HCM City rose 43.3 per cent year-on-year to US$9.46 billion in 2023, a record high over the past decade and accounting for more than half of the national total.

 

Nguyễn Đức Lênh, deputy director of the branch, said 2023 remittances were 2.7 times the volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow into the city and equivalent to 14 per cent of its gross regional domestic product (GRDP) the same year.

 

The flow of remittances is associated with the growing trend of working abroad, the branch said, adding that the post-pandemic recovery of the labour, service, and tourism markets in Asian countries, along with a stable economic and political environment, has positive effects on the remittances from the region.

 

Besides, Việt Nam’s steady macro-economy, friendly business environment and bustling cultural, tourism and sporting events have encouraged remittances, Lênh said, adding that the development of remittance payment networks and services of commercial banks and businesses also helped attract remittances to the country in general and the city in particular in 2023.

 

With approximately six million Vietnamese nationals living abroad, remittances sent to Việt Nam from 1993 to 2022 have amounted to $190 billion, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

In 2023, the World Bank estimated that Việt Nam received approximately $14 billion in remittances, while this figure reached a record number of $19 billion in 2022.

 

Việt Nam has been among the global top 10 recipients of remittances for many years, with overseas Vietnamese residing in more than 130 countries and territories, and around 600,000 of them with undergraduate or higher degrees. — VNS