HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese citizens living abroad have invested in more than 900 businesses in HCM City with a registered capital of VNĐ40 trillion (US$1.8 billion), according to HCM City’s Department of Planning and Investment. 

There are also 300 Vietnamese experts and intellectuals from overseas who are currently working at schools, hospitals and research centres in the city.

Nguyễn Thị Minh Phương, deputy chairwoman and secretary general of the municipal Liaison Association for Overseas Vietnamese, said that in recent years, HCM City has offered incentives to support people who live abroad but do business in their home country, connecting domestic and foreign enterprises. The association keeps close contacts with Vietnamese people living abroad, especially those in West European countries, the US and Canada.

Regarding remittances, HCM City attracts the most. Around 50 per cent of the remittances transferred to Việt Nam go to the southern metropolis, according to the State Bank of Việt Nam’s HCM City branch. The city received $5.5 billion in remittance in 2015, a year-on-year rise of 10 per cent. This dropped to $5 billion in 2016.

Currently, around 4.5 million Vietnamese citizens live and work in around 100 countries and territories across the world. Between 2002 and 2015, remittances were around 6 per cent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), nearly equal to the total foreign direct investment (FDI) and double the official development assistance (ODA) capital.

In 2016, the proportion declined, but remittances transferred to the country still amounted to $9 billion.

Around 70 per cent of the remittances go into production and business, and another 20 per cent into real estate.

These remittances are a stable source of foreign currency for Việt Nam, increasing the national foreign currency reserves, reducing dependence on foreign capital and easing pressure off the USD exchange rate. — VNS