Overseas Vietnamese sent home 3.8 billion USD through Ho Chi Minh City-based financial institutions during January-October. (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – Overseas Vietnamese sent home 3.8 billion USDthrough Ho Chi Minh City-based financial institutions during January-October.
Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam’s HCM City branch Nguyen HoangMinh said that remittances to the city from overseas Vietnamese have increasedby an average 10 percent per year.
According do Minh, macro-economic and exchange rate stability meanremittance recipients now prefer converting the remittances into Vietnamesedong instead of US dollar.
Minh estimated that remittances to the city will likely reach 5.2 billion USDin 2018. Besides 4.5 million overseas Vietnamese, the export of labour alsocontributes to strong growth of remittances in the past years.
In recent years, 21 percent of remittances,which have been around 5 billion USD per year, have been poured into realestate market. “Besides being a great support for property developers, this makespositive contributions to the city’s economic development”, said Chairman ofthe Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association Le Hoang Chau.
Meanwhile, banking-financial expert Bui Quang Tin from the Ho Chi Minh CityUniversity of Banking said that a savings interest rate of 7-8 percent inVietnam means converting remittances into VND and depositing them in banks is agood option.-VNA
VNA
