Vietnam received remittances of nearly $16 billion last year, more than 100 times the amount it had received 25 years earlier.
According to World Bank statistics, the country was the ninth biggest recipient of remittances in 2018. It received remittance of $13.8 billion in the previous year.
With GDP estimated at VND5.55 trillion ($238.17 billion), the inflows were equivalent to around 6.7 percent of that, indicating their importance to the country, economists said.
The increasing number of guest workers it sends abroad has made the country among the world’s leading recipients of remittances.
The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ department of overseas labour management said a record 140,000 workers went abroad last year.
According to the Financing Sustainable Development in Vietnam report by the United Nations Development Programme published in 2017, the US is the largest source of remittances, accounting for 55 percent, followed by Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and South Korea.
