Overseas remittances to Ho Chi Minh City were estimated to reach US$2.1 billion in the first half this year, up 3 percent over the same period last year, said deputy director of the State Bank of Vietnam in HCMC Nguyen Hoang Minh .
The money mainly ran into production and trading instead of real estate, stock market and bank savings as before.
The city has expected to receive a total of US$5.7 billion of overseas remittances this year, Mr. Minh forecast. The funds increase an average of 10-12 percent a year for the last five years.
Major remittance markets of Vietnam now are the U.S. and European countries. The amount of money remitted from China and South Korea is insignificant.