Foreign remittances to HCM City in the first nine months of the year were worth US$5.1 billion, a 22 per cent increase year-on-year.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the State Bank of Viet Nam’s HCM City branch, said the growth rate is impressive considering the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.

Overseas Vietnamese have faced difficulties travelling abroad or back to Viet Nam for the past two years due to the pandemic, and so “they might be having more savings than before,” he suggested.

Most of the remittances was money sent back by overseas Vietnamese to their families to help them get through the pandemic or to invest in business activities, he said.

The main sources remained the US, Australia, Canada, and Europe, he said.

Total remittances this year could increase by 12 per cent from last year’s $6.1 billion, he said.

Last year remittances topped $17.2 billion, making Viet Nam the third largest receiver in the East Asia and Pacific region. VNS