Vietnam - Vietnam amongst top 16 biggest remittances recipients in the world

With about four million people working, living and studying in 101 countries and territories around the world, Vietnam is among top 16 markets receiving inward remittances at the most in the world, Mrs. Drina Yue, senior vice chairwoman cum chief executive of Western Union in Asia-Pacific region said on November 29, 2011.

Although the economic situation has recently suffered many difficulties, the amount of remittances received by Western Union in Asia - Pacific region has increased by 11% on year.

"Inward remittances sent to Vietnam were more stable than some other countries in the region because in despite of economic difficulties, overseas Vietnamese have still continued working hard to maintain the remittance sources for their families" Drina Yue said.

According to Nguyen Thi Nhu Ly, Western Union’s Director of the Indochina region, the majority of remittances transferred to Vietnam are from Vietnamese labourers working in foreign countries and territories such as Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Malaysia.

Currently, there are over 400,000 Vietnamese labourers working overseas and therefore the demand of transferring money to their home is increasing. However, there are still many of them choosing the unofficial money transfer channels with high risks.

Ly also stated, inward remittances to Vietnam are mainly flowing to the rural and remote areas where there are many labourers going to work in foreign countries. The need to send money home is more and more increasing. In the past, inward remittances had been mainly for visit their relatives, but now there are more and more people sending money home to build houses, development investment and humanitarian assistance.

Western Union has started providing money transfer services in Vietnam since 1994. To date, Western Union has supported the money transfer to Vietnam from 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Customers in Vietnam can receive money from abroad through money transfer services of Western Union in over 63 provinces and cities and most districts across the country through 40 official dealers at banks, people’s credit funds, post offices and private businesses.

Reportedly, in 2010, Western Union made 214 million transactions for individuals around the globe, helping transfer $76 billion worldwide.

VietBiz24

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