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| Inward remittances of US$8b prop economy |
| 04-DEC-2008 Intellasia | Tuoi Tre |
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| 4 Dec, 2008 - 7:05:05 AM |
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| (Reuters) |
The State Bank of Vietnam forecasted that the total overseas remittance transferred into Vietnam would reach US$8 billion in 2008, a year-on-year rise of US$2.5 billion. In the first half of this year, the figure was recorded at US$3.5 billion already. According to the financial and investment specialist Dinh The Hien, the growth of overseas remittance is thanks to the clearer and more preferential policies for Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese), including the policy encouraging Viet Kieu to buy houses in Vietnam.
Le Tri Thong, chair of EAB Overseas Remittance Co (under Eastern Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank) reported that the remittance transferred via his firm to date has exceeded US$1.1 billion.
Being as one of five official agents of Western Union in Vietnam, VPBank said the money amount being transferred via Western Union rose by 70% against 2007. On average, each month VP bank transacts 9,000 inward and outward money transfers.
Till this time, the inward remittance transferred into HCM City has gained about US$4.4 billion, surpassing the whole last year's US$3.6 billion, accounting for over 50% of the country's figure.
The US dollar deposit rate in Vietnam is higher per capita than many other countries' and overseas Vietnamese (Viet Kieu) help prop the country's finances by sending billions of dollars each in year to their family and relatives. This inflow of hard cash helps offset the trade deficit as well as supplement the country's foreign currency reserves.
Every year, now is the time the overseas remittance starts to increase highly but this year, the remittance slows down because of the affects of the global economic crisis, Le Tri Thong added.
Before the aforementioned difficulties, overseas remittance payment units plan to launch many promotion programmes in the year end. EAB Overseas Remittance Co in conjunction with domestic supermarkets launched the programme "Chuyen tron niem vui" offering the gift transfer service free of charge if money senders request.
Similarly, VPBank started the programme "Nhan Tien Ngay Xuan-Don Qua Loc Tet" via Western Union system whereby both senders and receivers will be presented gifts such as VPBank's Autolink domestic debit card, household appliances or Calendar 2009.
Vietcombank carried out "Gui Loi Tri An" programme applied on the customers receiving money from its MoneyGram system. Depending on the value of transaction, receivers will be presented a SnetFone phone card with the face value of 30,000 dong and 10,000 dong.
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