According to Mr. Dao Xuan Tuan, Director of Foreign Exchange Management (State Bank), it is estimated that the amount of inward remittances to the country in 2023 reached about USD 16 billion, an increase of 32% compared to the previous year.

The locality receiving the largest amount of remittances continues to be Ho Chi Minh City with nearly USD 9.5 billion, accounting for nearly 60% of the country's total.

Ho Chi Minh City last year recorded an increase of more than 40% in the amount of inward remittances by overseas Vietnamese compared to last year. This is also the highest growth rate of the decade, partly due to the low level in 2022.

Recognizing this positive development, experts believe that after Covid-19, a number of countries have begun to loosen immigration restrictions, helping the number of Vietnamese labor exporters increase, which is one of the reasons why remittances increased sharply compared to last year.

According to data released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are currently 6 million Vietnamese people living in 130 countries and territories, of which 80% are in developed countries. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, there are about 2.9 million overseas Vietnamese living and working in other countries.

In the context of global economic difficulties, the main driving force for remittance growth in 2023 will come from the labor force in Asia. Meanwhile, the amount of remittances from Africa and the Americas decreased or increased slightly.

The Asian region contributes more than half of remittances flowing to Ho Chi Minh City and recorded a growth rate of over 140% compared to 2022. According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Lenh, Deputy Director of the State Bank of Ho Chi Minh City, Asia is a region with economic and political stability along with increasingly expanding economic relations and labor cooperation. Therefore, this will be the area that has an impact on remittance growth in the upcoming period.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Lenh assessed that remittances are one of the sources that contribute to ensuring the relationship between supply and demand of foreign currency, while also effectively supporting monetary policy, exchange rates and the foreign exchange market. This is even more meaningful in the context of strong currency fluctuations and inflation in some countries, putting certain pressure on exchange rates and the relationship between exchange rates - interest rates and inflation.

According to adjusted forecasts of the the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), Vietnam is in the top 20 countries receiving the most remittances in 2023, after India, Mexico, China, the Philippines, France, Germany, Ukraine. In 2024, the State Bank of Ho Chi Minh City branch expects the amount of remittances to increase by about 20%.

Kylie Nguyen