This year remittances from Asia have accounted for 5.2 per cent of the total figure, 3 percentage points higher than a year ago. — Photo vietstock.vn

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Remittances by overseas Vietnamese through banks and other official channels to HCM City could reach US$5 billion this year, an increase of $1 billion from last year, according to the State Bank of Viet Nam.

The estimation is based on the remittances received so far, which, as of early September had topped $2.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.2 per cent.

They were sent from America, Europe, and Asian countries such as South Korea, China, Japan, and ASEAN member nations.

Central bank deputy director Nguyen Hoang Minh said remittances from Asian countries have risen sharply in the past few years.

This year remittances from Asia have accounted for 5.2 per cent of the total figure, 3 percentage points higher than a year ago.

Minh said 74.2 per cent of the remittances has been channelled into manufacturing, 21.8 per cent into housing, with the remaining 4 per cent going towards supporting remitters' families in Viet Nam.

In addition to buying houses for living, the money has also been used to invest in property.

The director of a remittance company in HCM City was quoted by Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper as saying that remittances surge 30-50 per cent in the last few months of the year just before Lunar New Year.

That is the reason why remittance companies have recently launched promotion campaigns to attract the money, he added. —VNS