However, even though this is a 7.6 percent drop from last year’s 17 billion USD, Vietnam will remain the ninth biggest remittance beneficiary in the world, according to a recent report by the World Bank. In the East Asia and Pacific region, the country is forecast to rank third behind China (59.5 billion USD) and the Philippines (33.3 billion USD). This year’s remittance is estimated at 5.8 percent of Vietnam’s GDP, compared to 6.5 percent last year. The dip reverses an upward trend that’s lasted two decades, starting at a mere 1.3 billion USD in 2000./.