HO CHI MINH CITY - Remittances to Ho Chi Minh City totalled US$4.037 billion in the first half of 2026, according to figures from the State Bank of Vietnam’s Region 2 Branch.

The branch said the first-half amount was 22.8% lower than in the same period of 2025 and 21% below the total recorded during the second half of last year.

Remittances transferred through credit institutions and economic organisations reached US$2.032 billion in the second quarter, rising 1.4% from the first three months of the year but falling 27.9% from the same quarter in 2025. 

It was the first quarter of 2026 to record growth from the immediately preceding period, although the branch described the recovery as modest.

Asia remained the largest source of remittances during the first half, contributing US$1.916 billion, or 47.5% of the total. The Americas supplied US$1.375 billion, or 34.1%, while Oceania accounted for US$418.3 million, or 10.4%. Asia and the Americas together generated more than 81% of the city’s inflows.

Tran Thi Ngoc Lien, deputy director of the regional branch, said the second-quarter improvement was driven by a 9.8% increase in transfers from Asia. 

Remittances from the Americas, Europe and Oceania declined from the previous quarter, while Africa recorded growth from a much smaller base.

The branch attributed the wider first-half decline to slow global growth and tighter immigration policies, which it said had affected employment and incomes among overseas Vietnamese. 

For the Americas, particularly the United States, officials also cited inflation, high living costs, a strong dollar, labour-market changes and tax adjustments affecting some transfers.

Newer payment channels may also be dispersing remittance flows beyond transactions captured by the banking system, according to the branch. 

Some overseas Vietnamese may be retaining money abroad or directing it into other assets because foreign-currency deposits and domestic investment channels remain less attractive.

The decline followed a record year for remittances in 2025, when Ho Chi Minh City received US$10.34 billion, up 8.3% from the previous year. The city had received US$5.23 billion in the first half of 2025.

The Region 2 Branch forecast that full-year remittances could reach US$8.6 billion to US$8.9 billion if the global economy avoids major disruptions and the quarterly recovery continues. 

Lien said “the quarterly recovery trend will become more evident in the second half of the year.”