A bank teller counts dollar banknotes. The remittance amount to HCMC has increased by 15% this year - Photo: Thanh Tao

Overseas remittance to HCMC this year has reached US$4.1 billion, up 15% against 2011, most of which came from the U.S. and Europe.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the central bank’s HCMC branch, said the higher amount of remittance will help stabilize the exchange rate next year. Last year, only 15% of remittance was sold to banks and the figure has surged to 34% this year, suggesting stronger confidence in the dong.

The stable exchange rate throughout this year has reduced demand to keep foreign currencies, Minh said.

As operations of the unofficial foreign currency market have been tightened, the gap of foreign exchange rates between the official and black markets has narrowed down. Therefore, an amount of foreign currency has been sold to banks.

Besides, foreign currency deposit rates are much lower than dong, stimulating people to keep dong to enjoy high interest.

This year, remittance flowing into the property sector contracted to around 23% compared to 52% last year.

The Saigon Times Daily