2023 marks decade-high increase in remittances to Ho Chi Minh City

Overseas remittances to Ho Chi Minh City reached nearly US$9.5 billion in 2023, surging 43.3 percent over 2022, the highest jump in a decade, said a leader of the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV). The result was positive amid a global economic downturn, high inflation, and escalating military conflicts, according to Nguyen Duc Lenh, deputy director of the SBV's Ho Chi Minh City branch. The remittances sent to the southern metropolis accounted for over 50 percent of Vietnam’s total. Ho Chi Minh City’s remittances were 2.7 times higher than the foreign direct investment in the city and some 14 percent of its gross regional domestic product (GRDP) last year. Lenh said such increasing remittances were thanks to a growing trend of working abroad.