Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Remittance to Ho Chi Minh City in the first quarter of 2018increased by 4.5 percent against the same period last year to reach 1.12billion USD, a central bank official said.
According to Nguyen Hoang Minh, Deputy Directorof State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s HCM City branch, most of the remittance isinvested in production and business instead of being poured into real estate,securities or savings as previously.
Roughly half of the remittance to the city camefrom the United States, Canada and Australia, he said.
The remittance to HCM City has been rising inrecent years, Minh said, predicting that the capital source to the city willcontinue to be positive this year.
HCM City remained the largest recipient ofremittances in Vietnam last year, with an inflow of 5.2 billion USD, a 4.5percent year-on-year increase.
Last year’s remittance hike was a contrast tomany predictions that the remittance to Vietnam would reduce due to USimmigration and interest rate policies as well as Vietnam’s zero percent dollardeposit interest rate.
Nguyen Ngoc Canh, Director of the SBV’s ForeignExchange Management Department, said although the central bank had set theceiling of dollar deposit interest rate at zero percent, overseas remittancesto Vietnam continued to remain stable.
The overseas remittances to Vietnam are notaffected by the interest rate gap between the dollar deposit interest rates inthe country and the rest of the world, or SBV’s foreign exchange policy, Canhsaid.
According to analysts, Vietnam’s rapid economicgrowth and improved business environment have enhanced investor confidence andattracted remittances into the country.-VNA
VNA
