Two countries within the Southeast Asian region are among the many top recipients of U.S. remittances: Philippines and Vietnam!
The United States, which has led the world in remittance outflows for 35 years, tops Mexico, China, India, the Philippines and Vietnam as destinations, although experts warned last yr that Vietnam may very well be losing ground as a consequence of U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies and rate of interest hikes by the Federal Reserve.
PHILIPPINES
The Philippines was the world’s third-largest recipient of remittances in 2017, in keeping with a World Bank report released Monday.
The country maintained its position with $33 billion (PHP 1.72 trillion) in remittances.
Remittances from greater than 10 million Filipino employees working abroad constitute the Philippines’ second largest source of foreign exchange after revenues from the business process outsourcing sector.
Remittances account for as much as 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority indicate that there have been about 2.2 million foreign employees within the Philippines between April and September 2016.
VIETNAM
Vietnamese employees living abroad sent home $13.8 billion last yr, keeping the country among the many top 10 recipients of remittances
This is corresponding to 6.7 percent of Vietnam’s gross domestic product in 2017, showing that remittances proceed to be a very important source of income for the country.
According to data released by the bank in May last yr, the flow of foreign funds into Vietnam has increased about 100-fold over the past 25 years, from $140 million in 1993 to about $13.4 billion in 2016.
Pew Research Center data shows that Vietnam received $11.8 billion in 2016, with the United States being the most important source, accounting for greater than half of the overall, followed by Australia, Canada, Germany and France.
Official government figures show that the variety of Vietnamese employees who went abroad to work totalled almost 135,000 in 2017, up 6.7 per cent from 2016. This was the fourth yr in a row that the number had topped 100,000.
Source: VNEexpress.net and Philstar.com
