HCM City (VNA) – The amount of overseas remittances from overseas Vietnamese has grown dramatically this year, according to a banking authority.

Nguyen Ngoc Lam, deputy director of the State Bank of Vietnam ’s Foreign Exchange Management Department, said overseas remittances to Vietnam in the first half of this year reached about 5 billion USD, up 300 million USD over last year.

The amount of such remittances is expected to reach 8 billion USD by the end of the year.

In the past, overseas remittances came mostly from Vietnamese living in America , Australia and Europe, but more are being sent by people who live in Asia and the Middle East .

The Eastern Asia Bank’s Eastern Asia Overseas Remittances Company transferred 631 million USD overseas remittances in the first half of this year, 52.6 percent of the year’s target.

In the first half of the year, Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) transferred 730 million USD in overseas remittances, an increase of 25 percent over the same period last year.

For the same period, the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) transferred 430 million USD, up 50 percent against the same period last year.
Sai Gon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (Sacombank) transferred 840 million USD during the same period. That is expected to reach 930 million USD by the end of the year, an increase of 40 percent over the last year.