Overseas remittances to Ho Chi Minh City remain stable despite the COVID-19 epidemic, with the overall amount anticipated to reach approximately US$5.5 billion this year.

The 2020 estimate will increase slightly compared to US$5.3 billion recorded last year, according to the municipal branch of the State Bank of Vietnam.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the central bank’s HCM City branch, said Vietnamese citizens abroad had remitted roughly US$4.7 billion to the city between Jan. – Oct. 2020. October alone saw remittances increase by US$500 million from the previous month.

The amount of remittances sent via commercial banks such as Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock (Sacombank) witnessed a sharp increase in comparison to the same period from last year.

Nguyen Minh Tam, deputy general director of Sacombank, attributed this rise to the increased use of payment methods for remittances through API, an online payment system, a factor which has helped to save time for customers while facilitating the deployment of various COVID-19 epidemic prevention measures.

In addition, remittances sent by Vietnamese guest workers, especially those from Japan and the Republic of Korea, also increased significantly.

The World Bank (WB) projects that remittances by Vietnamese citizens overseas this year will endure a decrease of over 7% to US$15.7 billion in comparison to last year, accounting for 5.8% of GDP.

According to the WB’s report, Vietnam remains among the largest recipients of remittance in the world in terms of value this year, ranking ninth.

In East Asia and the Pacific region, Vietnam came third in terms of remittance value, behind China and the Philippines.