Overseas remittances are expected to record USD8 billion  in 2010, an increase of 25.6 percent over last year.

A teller counts US dollar banknotes at a Sacombank branch in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Sacombank).

According to the Foreign Currency Management Department under the State Bank of Vietnam, overseas remittances were USD7.6 billion  in the first 11 months of this year and likely to be USD770 million  in December.

In addition, Vietnam ’s commercial banks have said that foreign currencies are flowing into Vietnam and have seen a rise of between 20-30 percent against the previous year.

This high level of remittances is attributed to the recovery of the global economy, which enables overseas Vietnamese to send more money to their relatives in Vietnam , the strong development of banking networks and the improved services offered at banks and economic organizations.

This year’s remittances are mainly from the US , Canada , Australia and markets that accept Vietnamese workers, such as the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia .

However, money from Europe is likely to be affected due to public debt in Greece and Ireland .

Overseas remittances are forecast to increase in the next two months until the Lunar New Year festival.

Earlier, the World Bank released a report on worldwide remittances in 2010, with Vietnam ’s overseas remittances forecasted to be USD7.2 billion against USD6.6 billion  in 2009.

The report also showed that Vietnam now ranks 16th out of the top 30 countries surveyed.

Source: SGGP