Remittances to HCM City in the first half of this year rose 3 per cent year-on-year to US$2.1 billion.— Photo thesaigontimes.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Remittances to HCM City in the first half of this year rose 3 per cent year-on-year to US$2.1 billion.

The deputy director of the State Bank of Viet Nam's HCM City branch, Nguyen Hoang Minh, said the remittances mainly went to production and businesses.

Minh forecast that remittances to the city would continue to rise, reaching roughly $5.7 billion due to the city's rapid economic rebound.

Remittances to HCM City, one of the top localities nationwide with the largest volume of remittances, have increased roughly 10-12 per cent on average for the past five years.

The rise in remittance sources has been mainly thanks to an increase in remittances from the United States and the European Union, Minh said, adding that remittances from China and the Republic of Korea had remained modest.       

Remittances to HCM City last year reached $5.5 billion, inching up against the $5.2 billion received in 2014. More than 70.8 per cent of the remittance value flowed to production and businesses, while roughly 21.6 per cent went into real estate and 7 per cent was destined for relatives.

Compared with last year's overall remittance of nearly $12.3 billion, Viet Nam's remittance for this year has been forecast to increase slightly in the wake of Government policies to encourage overseas Vietnamese to invest in their homeland and due to the warming of the local real estate market. — VNS