Overseas remittances to HCMC rises 20 pct to $2.9 billion

By Le Chi   August 7, 2018 | 07:04 pm PT
Remittances to Ho Chi Minh City in the first seven months reached nearly $2.9 billion, a State Bank official says.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the HCMC branch of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said this was a 20 percent year-on-year increase.

Earlier in May, Minh had said that a total of $2 billion had been transferred from overseas to the largest city in Vietnam.

He said the remittances were being used mainly in the manufacturing sector, not for real estate, securities and savings, which have been the typical draws for long.

In recent years, remittances to Ho Chi Minh City have been increasing by an average of eight to ten percent per year, Minh said.

He also said macroeconomic stability, improving situation of foreign workers and an increase in services attracting investments have attracted more remittances since the beginning of this year.

The macroeconomic stability and higher exchanging rate were also reasons why remittance recipients were gradually moving from holding the funds in foreign currencies to the dong, he added.

Vietnamese citizens living and working abroad sent home $13.8 billion last year, placing Vietnam among the world’s 10 biggest remittance beneficiaries, a World Bank report said.

It also said the figure accounted for 6.7 percent of Vietnam’s gross domestic product, showing that remittances continue to be an important income source for the country.

 
 
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