Despite a challenging global economic landscape, Vietnam continues to stand resilient as one of the top 10 recipients of overseas remittances worldwide, with an estimated US$14 billion last year, according to the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief and the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD).
Breaking records on its own, Ho Chi Minh City boasted a remarkable annual surge of 43.3 percent in remittances, reaching an impressive US$9.46 billion– a figure that also marked a 10-year high.
This sum, as highlighted by Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam’s municipal branch Nguyen Duc Lenh, not only surpassed foreign direct investment (FDI) in the city by 2.7 times but also accounted for nearly 14 percent of its gross regional domestic product. This unprecedented success was attributed to a growth in overseas labour.
Over the past five years, Ho Chi Minh City has demonstrated its dominance in attracting overseas remittances, claiming 44.1 percent of the country’s total in 2018 and steadily increasing to an impressive 55.03 percent in 2022, Lenh said.
Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Vo Van Hoan underscored the significance of this positive growth, emphasising its potential to fortify exchange rates, stabilise the foreign exchange market, and propel the city’s overall economic development.
A report from the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs revealed that Vietnam has garnered over US$190 billion in remittances over the past three decades, nearly matching the total FDI disbursed during the same period.
Among the countries contributing to this influx, the US took the lead, followed by the UK, Australia, and Canada. Meanwhile, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan (China) played pivotal roles as major labour markets.
Lenh said the Vietnamese Government has issued many policies to encourage OVs to do business at home and send cash to their families.
The revised Real Estate Business Law, which will take effect on January 1, 2025, also improves the opportunity for OVs to invest and trade in real estate on par with their domestic counterparts, thus further fueling the positive momentum in remittance growth, he added.
