Overseas remittances to Viet Nam through banks in Ho Chi Minh City hit 1.9 billion USD in the first half of this year, representing a 3 percent rise from the same period last year.

The figure for the whole year is expected to reach 4.5-4.8 billion USD, higher than the 4.1 billion USD figure recorded in 2012, according to the State Bank of Viet Nam.

Normally, remittances to Viet Nam climb substantially during the final months of the year as the traditional lunar New Year festival (Tet) approaches.

Overseas remittances to the country totaled 10 million USD last year, the highest figure for the last four years.

Viet Nam ranked 9th on the World Bank’s list of top-ten countries that attracted the most overseas remittances in 2012 and ranked 2nd in the Southeast Asian region.

Statistics show that 4.5 million Vietnamese, including more than 400,000 guest workers, are living in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide and over 80 percent of them were settled in developed nations.

(Source: VNA)