Vietnam a top remittance recipient

Banking expert Can Van Luc quoted World Bank's statistics to say at a conference last week that Vietnam was ranked 11th in the WB's list.

The WB's report revealed that India is forecast to gain the top spot, with more than US$72 billion in remittances, followed by China with US$63.9 billion. Other major recipients are the Philippines, Mexico, France, and Nigeria, in addition to Egypt and Pakistan, with each receiving roughly more than US$20 billion.

Domestic statistics also estimated that Vietnam this year would receive roughly between US$13 billion and US$14 billion of remittance, up against US$12 billion last year.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the State Bank of Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City branch, said that the inward remittance to Ho Chi Minh City, which accounts for more than one-third of the country's total remittance, could reach US$5.5 billion this year, a year-on-year increase of 10%.

Minh attributed the rise to the favourable devaluation of the dong against the US dollar, the recovery of local businesses, the warming real estate market and the Government's policies to encourage Viet kieu (overseas Vietnamese) to invest in their homeland including a decision to allow foreigners to own homes in Vietnam.

The Government's policies to encourage overseas Vietnamese to invest in their homeland have helped increase the inflows.

Commercial banks are also optimistic about the inward remittance source this year.

Director of Dong A Bank's Remittance Co Tran Van Trung said his company targeted a remittance growth rate of 15% to 20% this year. Last year, remittances to the company reached US$1.6 billion, up 10% against the previous year.

Besides the traditional markets of the US, Australia and Canada, where there are many Viet kieu, Trung said that his company would also focus on new markets such as Japan and Malaysia, which are Vietnam's large labourer export markets.

Remittances continue to underpin economic growth through supporting private consumption and housing markets for Vietnam.

According to Vo Tri Thanh, deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, remittances play an important role in the nation's economic development and macro-economic stability.

Statistics from the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed that nearly five million Vietnamese are residing in 103 countries and territories around the world. Remittances to Vietnam were US$9 billion in 2011, US$10 billion in 2012, US$11 billion in 2013 and US$12 billion last year.

Between 1993 and 2014, Vietnam received total remittances of about US$96.66 billion, with an average remittance of $4.4 billion per year, accounting for 6.8% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) over the period.

Remittances into Vietnam have increased about 22.4% annually in the past two decades, with an exception in 1997 and 2009 when economies in the world faced a financial crisis.

Danang sent US$112m

The central city received US$112 million in remittances from 18,000 overseas Vietnamese this year, vice director of the city's foreign affairs department Mai Dang Hieu said.

He said overseas Vietnamese also poured VND2 trillion (US$95.2 million) into 70 investment projects in the city, including garment, seafood exports, electronics and information technology, besides tourism projects.