Oversea remittances to Ho Chi Minh City reached 3.12 billion USD inJanuary-September and the figure is forecast to rise to 5 billion USD atthe end of this year, well above last year’s 4.8 billion USD, accordingto a local newspaper.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, Deputy Director of theState Bank of Vietnam’s HCM City branch, told the Saigon Times Daily onOctober 1 that incoming remittances from Vietnamese nationals abroadpoured into production and real estate sectors are higher this year.

Theproduction sector accounted for 70.8 percent of last year’s remittanceswhile this year’s rate is 72 percent, while the real estate sector sofar this year has attracted 22 percent of remittances compared to 20.9percent in 2013. The remaining amount (6 percent) is channeled into theeducation sector and given to relatives.

Vietnam was the ninthbiggest beneficiary of international remittances last year with 11billion USD, according to the World Bank. With 70 billion USD, Indiatopped the chart, followed by China (60 billion USD) and the Philippines(25 billion USD).

In related news, financial indicators in HoChi Minh City this year to date have shown positive signs, according to areport from the municipal government.

Credit institutions in thecity mobilised 1,226 trillion VND in the nine-month period, up 4.71percent against December and 11.6 percent against last year’s sameperiod.

Total outstanding loans in the period picked up 6.05percent from last year and 10.6 percent year-on-year to exceed 1,000trillion VND.

According to the city government, deposits by residents accounted for a high 56.1 percent of the total mobilized by banks.-VNA