Remittance to the country through Ho Chi Minh City-based banks in the first seven months of the year rose to 2.2 billion USD, or 19 percent over the same period last year, according to statistics from the State Bank of Vietnam’s HCM City branch.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the branch, said that the amount of remittances conversed into domestic currency has increased significantly from the past thanks to stable exchange rates.

Besides, Minh said in the first six months of the year, remittance to the real estate industry was only 22 percent against more than 50 percent in 2011. Up to 49 percent of the remittance so far this year was for production.

Minh forecast that remittances into the country would jump to 4.5-4.7 billion USD for the whole of 2013, up 10-15 percent against last year.

He explained that remittances to the country often rise sharply in the fourth quarter, accounting for roughly 30-35 percent of the year’s total, as overseas Vietnamese want to send money to their relatives for spending and shopping during year-end holidays.-VNA