Vietnam Daily News

Remittance to Vietnam this year to grow by 10pct year-on-year: Experts

Written by Dailynews.vn Wednesday, 14 December 2011 15:44

World Bank (WB) recently has estimated Vietnam's 2011 inward remittance at $9 billion. The amount of foreign currencies will be the important addition to Vietnamese banks as the forex spread inside and outside the banking system is closer to zero, the Thoi Bao Ngan Hang [Banking Times] reported.

Leaders of remittance companies said the remittance to Vietnam this year still grew by 10 percent year-on-year towards the $9 billion record in spite of the difficult economy. According to the SBV-HCM City arm, the amount of inward remittances to the city in 2011 is estimated to have reached around $5 billion, up 10 percent against the previous year and accounting for nearly two third of the country's total. In which, the remittance mainly came from US, Australia, Canada thanks to sustainable income of overseas labourers.

Tran Van Trung, director of HCM City-based Eastern Asia Overseas Remittance Co was quoted as saying that its remittance payment of this year will have surged 20 percent because of focus on developing new markets and new partners in US and Canada. Reportedly by WB, Vietnam is one of top 16 remittance recipients in the world within this year and expected to continue being the potential overseas remittance market for global transfer agencies.

Inward remittance contributes the important part to Vietnam's foreign currency inflow during the last 10 years but the flow of remittances has not been transferred via official channels due to the forex rate spread. Tran Xuan Huy, general director of Sacombank said his bank purchased no more than 20 percent of whole remittance amount; the remainder was taken directly by residents.

Remittance companies expected the money flow would keep rising sharply in last months of 2011. US dollar in the free market these days went closer to the official forex rate at banks, at 21,000 dong and 21,005 dong per US dollar respectively, showing a difference of 5 dong per US dollar. This is the chance for banks to buy US dollar from overseas remittance.

Source: www.intellasia.net/news/articles/finance/111350697.shtml