Remittances to Ho Chi Minh City rise to $3.7 billion in first seven months

August 09, 2021 | 13:15

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Despite the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, remittances flowing into Ho Chi Minh City increased sharply in the first seven months of 2021.

Remittances to Ho Chi Minh City rise to $3.7 billion in first seven months

Remittances flowing into Ho Chi Minh City increased over 19 per cent on-year. Photo: Le Toan

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Branch of the State Bank of Vietnam, announced that in the first seven months of this year, remittances flowing into the city reached $3.7 billion, an increase of more than 19 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Remittances mainly went into production and business, not only contributing to the city's economic development but also helping to stabilise foreign currency holdings in the area and the country in general.

In 2021, remittances to Ho Chi Minh City will reach about $6.5 billion, an increase of about 6.5 per cent on-year. More than half of this has been achieved so far.

In 2021, the World Bank estimates that remittances to low- and middle-income countries will recover and increase by 5.6 per cent to $470 billion. This outlook, however, still depends on how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact global growth and if control measures can contain its spread.

In mid-May 2021, the World Bank published an updated report on global remittances in which it adjusted its estimate for remittances to Vietnam in 2020 from $15.7 billion to $17.2 billion.

In particular, Vietnam continues to be in the top 10 recipients of remittances in the world.

Excluding China, remittances received in low- and middle-income countries outweighed foreign investment and official aid combined, making it an important source for development.

In the East Asia-Pacific region, Vietnam ranked third, just behind China and the Philippines. Remittance inflows accounted for 5 per cent of the Vietnamese GDP in 2020, also in the top 10 in the world.

By Thanh Vinh

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