Overseas remittances to HCM City hit US$3.7 billion in seven months
VOV.VN - Despite enduring the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the total amount of remittances sent to Ho Chi Minh City during the seven months of the year surged by over 19% to US$3.7 billion compared to the same period from last year.
Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the State Bank of Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City branch, said the remittances were mainly channeled to production outlets and businesses, a factor which has contributed to accelerating the southern city's economic development and stabilising the source of foreign currency in both the local and the country as a whole.
The amount of remittances sent to the southern city this year is anticipated to reach approximately US$6.5 billion, an increase of 6.5% compared to last year figure of US$6.1 billion.
The World Bank (WB) estimates that remittances flowing to low and middle-income countries will recover and increase by 5.6% to reach US$470 billion.
Despite this, the positive outlook largely depends on the impact of COVID-19 on global growth prospects, along with measures capable of containing the spread of the pandemic.
As part of the WB’s updated report detailing global remittance data which was published in mid-May, they adjusted their projection of remittances to the nation last year from US$15.7 billion in October to US$17.2 billion.
Most notably, the country continued to be among the top 10 recipients of remittances in the world.
Furthermore, Vietnam also ranked third in the East Asia-Pacific region, just behind China and the Philippines in terms of receiving overseas remittances last year.
Amid the positive inflows of remittances sent to the country, a number of local banks such as Sacombank, Vietcombank, and Eximbank have invested in upgrading their technologies and improving transactions in an effort to create more favourable conditions for their customers. This has been done while simultaneously implementing promotional schemes aimed at attracting remittances.
