Overseas remittances are the movement of money from overseas Vietnamese or from those working abroad to send to their relatives and families. In recent years, more and more overseas remittances have flowed into our country, bringing practical benefits such as offsetting the trade balance deficit and improving the quality of life of those receiving overseas remittances from abroad; increasing national foreign exchange reserves, creating more economic resources for the country, contributing to reducing imbalances in the balance of payments, improving foreign exchange reserves, and reducing pressure on the exchange rate of the US dollar.
Impressive figures
In August 2023, the World Bank predicted that overseas remittances sent to Vietnam would reach 14 billion USD in 2023. This is an important factor contributing to supporting Vietnam's current account surplus last year. However, according to the new data on overseas remittances of Ho Chi Minh City, the amount of overseas remittances for the whole country may exceed the World Bank's forecast.
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| The amount of overseas remittances transferred to Vietnam in 2023 increased by 25-30% compared to 2022 (Photo: congthuong.vn) |
According to data from the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the registered FDI capital in Vietnam in 2023 reached nearly 36.61 billion USD, an increase of 32.1% compared to 2022. The implemented FDI capital is estimated to reach about 23.18 billion USD, an increase of 3.5% compared to 2022. This is a record disbursement level. Thus, if the amount of overseas remittances to Vietnam as the forecast by the World Bank is 14 billion USD, it will be nearly half of the registered FDI capital. Previously in 2022, Vietnam’s overseas remittances reached a record of 19 billion USD, putting Vietnam in the top 10 countries in the world in receiving overseas remittances.
According to the State Commission for Overseas Vietnamese, the amount of overseas remittances to Vietnam from 1993 (the first year of overseas remittance statistics) to the end of 2022 reached over 190 billion USD, nearly equal to the amount of the disbursed FDI capital. In addition, by the end of 2022, overseas Vietnamese from 35 countries and territories invested in 385 FDI projects in 42 localities in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 1.72 billion USD, contributing to promoting socio-economic development, creating jobs for local workers and increasing tax revenue for the budget.
In the total amount of overseas remittances transferred to Vietnam every year, the United States leads because it has the largest number of Vietnamese immigrants living there; followed by the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. In terms of labor export, overseas remittances mainly come from Vietnam’s main labor export markets such as Japan, Republic of Korea, and Taiwan (China).
The World Bank forecasts that overseas remittances to Vietnam will continue to increase, in 2024 it will reach 14.4 billion USD, higher than in 2023. according to the estimations of the World Bank and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in the past three years, Vietnam has received on average up to 17 - 18 billion USD in overseas remittances each year. In the past 10 years, overseas remittances have become a bright spot in Vietnam.
In spite of being impacted by many factors, while some years the flow of overseas remittances to Vietnam has also decreased following the general trend of other countries, it still maintains its position in the top 10 countries with the largest amount of overseas remittances in the world and in top 3 countries receiving the most overseas remittances in the Asia-Pacific region.
Some policies to attract overseas remittances
The overseas Vietnamese community currently has about 6 million people in 130 countries and territories around the world, of which more than 80% are in developed countries. The number of Vietnamese people going abroad to study, work, get married and invest, continues to increase.
Overseas Vietnamese continue to maintain strong links with their homeland, promoting their role as an important resource in the country's development process.
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Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with representatives of the Vietnamese community
in the US in September 2023 (Photo: VNA) |
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang said that in all high-level visits of Vietnamese leaders and in contacts with leaders of other countries, there is always content related to the Vietnamese community abroad. Even though time is tight when working abroad, senior leaders always make time to meet with overseas Vietnamese community in the host country.
The Deputy Minister emphasized that overseas Vietnamese are a great resource of the country, they are able to contribute and share experiences in many fields.
In recent years, the Government has issued policies to encourage and create conditions for overseas Vietnamese to feel secure to invest or do business in the homeland as well as to transfer money to invest or support their relatives such as procedures related to overseas Vietnamese and overseas remittances have been amended and supplemented in order to be suitable to the new situation; feedback and support to overseas Vietnamese through Vietnamese representative agencies in countries have been made. In particular, the Law on Real Estate Business recently passed by the National Assembly, which will take effect on January 1, 2025, means that overseas Vietnamese will be able to invest and do real estate business like domestic citizens./.