Remittances sent to Ho Chi Minh City by overseas Vietnamese are anticipated to reach a figure of approximately US$5.5 billion, representing a year-on-year rise of 8%, according to figures released by the State Bank of Vietnam’s city branch.

The initial 10 months of the year has witnessed total overseas remittances being sent to the southern metropolis reach US$4.7 billion.

This comes after overseas remittances transferred to Ho Chi Minh City have increased by an average of between 8% and 10% each year. Indeed, remittances rising sharply has served to boost the supply of foreign currencies, therefore stabilising exchange rates in recent times.

However, in contrast to the previous years, the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has seen this year’s source of remittances witness a steep fall.

According to information compiled by the World Bank (WB), 2019 saw total overseas remittances to the nation reach US$16.7 billion, whilst 2018’s figure was roughly US$16 billion. Moving forward, it is predicted that that this year will see remittances continue its strong flow to the nation, although the world faces plenty of changes coupled with the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WB also predicted that this year’s amount of global remittances will endure a drop of some 20% due to COVID-19, of which East Asia and the Pacific region will suffer a 13% fall.

Domestically, in addition to major remittance markets, emerging markets have also been affected by COVID-19 thanks to increased labour exports to locations such as Japan and the Republic of Korea, resulting in shrinking remittances.