HANOI, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Remittances to Vietnam have been on the rise since the beginning of 2023 and will continue to increase in the remaining months of this year, especially ahead of the traditional Lunar New Year, Vietnam News Agency reported on Thursday.

As of September, southern Ho Chi Minh City received more than 6.68 billion U.S. dollars in remittances, a year-on-year surge of 40 percent and equivalent to 101.3 percent of last year's figure, according to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

Deputy Director of SBV's Ho Chi Minh City Branch Nguyen Duc Lenh said the robust growth of remittance inflows supported the monetary and foreign exchange markets amid fluctuation of strong currencies and high inflation rates in several countries and regions.

The city has been a leading locality in remittance inflows in the past five years, with the amount in 2018 accounting for 44.1 percent of Vietnam's total, 48 percent in 2019, 53.8 percent in 2020, 52.8 percent in 2021 and 55.0 percent in 2022, according to the SBV.

World Bank ranked Vietnam among the world's top 10 countries in terms of remittances.

Remittances to the Southeast Asian country reached 19 billion dollars last year, according to the bank.