Inward remittances to HCMC up 43% to $9.5 bln, Asia dominates

Inward remittances to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest economic hub, rose 43.3% year-on-year to $9.46 billion in 2023, according to the municipal branch of the State Bank of Vietnam.

The amount accounted for more than 50% of the national total, Nguyen Duc Lenh, deputy director of the branch, told reporters Tuesday.

Money sent from Asian countries made up 50.5% of the total inflow, a massive 143.8% spike against end-2022, Lenh said, attributing it to post-Covid reopening of the labor, service and tourism markets as well as stable economic and political situation in the continent.

Last year’s transfers from the Americas dropped 10.2% year-on-year, but still accounted for 29.1% of the remittances to Vietnam.

Lenh highlighted that 2023 remittances were 2.7 times the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into HCMC and equivalent to 14% of its gross regional domestic product the same year.

Besides an increase in citizens working overseas, Vietnam’s steady macro-economy, friendly business environment, more enabling banking services and bustling cultural, tourism and sporting events have encouraged remittances, he said.

Vietnamese authorities are yet to announce the official figure of total remittances sent to the country last year. Inward remittances in 2022 rose 5% year-on-year to $19 billion.

Remittances remain an importance source of foreign currency for Vietnam, in addition to FDI, foreign indirect investment, and trade surpluses.

Vietnamese nationals abroad have sent more than $190 billion to the country between 1993 and 2022, nearly equalling disbursed FDI in the same period, according to the foreign ministry.