According to the leader of the State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City Branch, remittances increased by 10-20% during this Tet holiday. Previously, in the first half of 2022, the amount of inward remittances to Vietnam was affected due to the difficult world economic context. But the situation improved positively at the end of the year.

Leaders of many banks said that the amount of inward remittances during the Lunar New Year usually increased by 10-15% compared to other months of the year. This year, because Tet comes early, close to Christmas and New Year, overseas Vietnamese will focus on sending money back at the end of the year for relatives to celebrate Tet and as lucky money. With online transactions - which account for about 80% - remittance payments are not interrupted by the Tet holiday.

According to the World Bank (WB) and the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), in 2022, due to the impact of the economic downturn and high global inflation, remittances to low- and middle-income countries are forecast to increase only 5%, to USD 626 billion, lower than the 10.2% increase recorded in 2021.

There have been many concerns that remittances in 2022 will decrease sharply due to high inflation in the world. High oil and food prices directly affect the income of Vietnamese expatriates abroad, causing a decrease in the amount of remittances sent to their families. However, the numbers recorded so far still show positive signals from this valuable resource.

According to the World Bank and KNOMAD, Vietnam ranks 8th in the world and 3rd in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of remittances in 2021. In the past 10 years, remittances have surpassed USD 10 billion and nearly doubled. In 2022, the World Bank and KNOMAD estimate that the amount of remittances to Vietnam will increase by 4.4% compared to 2021.

“Remittances are still growing positively because Vietnam has an increasingly better investment environment with many attractive policies for overseas Vietnamese. People increasingly feel the positive change of the domestic business environment, plus the stability of the macro-economy, which are factors that encourage overseas Vietnamese to transfer money to their relatives to invest in the country.” Dr. Vu Dinh Anh - economic expert commented.

Kylie Nguyen