HCM City’s overseas remittances were worth US$2.6 billion in the first five months of this year. Photo:tapchitaichinh.vn

HCM CITY — Despite the COVID-19 outbreak roiling the global economy, overseas remittances to HCM City were worth US$2.6 billion in the first five months of this year.

Nguyễn Hoàng Minh, deputy director of the State Bank of Việt Nam’s HCM City branch, said the figure represented a 13 per cent increase year-on-year.

“This is a good figure at a time when the Covid-19 epidemic has seriously affected the global economy.”

The remittances are invested mainly in manufacturing and other businesses, with around 20 per cent going into real estate, he said.

Analysts expect a total of US$ 6.5 billion for this year.

For many years HCM City has seen remittances constantly increase.

Some two million people from HCM City live abroad, and last year they sent home US$6.1 billion, up 15 per cent from 2019.

The total remittances coming to Việt Nam last year were worth US$17.2 billion, making it the third largest recipient in the East Asia and Pacific, according to the Migration and Development Brief released last month by the World Bank and the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development

In the last five years remittances to Việt Nam have grown at an average of 6 per cent a year. — VNS