|
Overseas remittance decreasing slightly
Overseas remittance service providers have reported lower remitted money in the last two months due to the global economic difficulties.
Pham Thi Nga, Head of the Overseas Remittance and Retail Policy Division under Vietcombank, said that the overseas remittance volume in the first two months of the year was US $200 million, a decrease of 12% over the same period of the last year.
East Asia Bank (EAB) has reported it paid nearly US $230 million worth of overseas remittance, a decrease of 16% over the same period of the last year.
The overseas remittance turnover of the Sacomrex Overseas Remittance Company has reportedly decreased by 7% over the same period of the previous year, reaching US $200 million in the first two months of 2009.
“As anticipated, the global economic difficulties have made the overseas remittance slow down with lower frequency and lower value of remittance.”
According to Tran Van Trung, Director of EAB Overseas Remittance Company, the current monthly overseas remittance is just US $90 million, while it was over US $100 million in 2008.
Trung said that the company hopes to obtain the overseas remittance payment turnover in 2009 the same as in 2008, or US $1.2 billion. However, he said that the figure would be gained only if the world’s economies recover in the last six months of the year.
Bankers said that the overseas remittance has been decreasing specially from the markets where there are many Vietnamese guess workers, like Taiwan, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, and the Middle East. Other key markets like the US, Canada, Australia, and Europe have also seen decreasing remittance to Vietnam.
The bankers also said that they have been trying to improve the overseas remittance turnover which has been decreasing due to the global economic crisis by expanding the payment network.
On March 20, the dollar price on the black market decreased by VND 100-150/US $1.00 over the previous day, which was just VND 100/US $1.00 higher than the sale price quoted by commercial banks. The decrease has been explained by the fact that the central bank asked commercial banks not to use derivatives to trade dollar/dong on the interbank market at rates outside the official trading band. The exchange rates quoted by commercial banks have decreased after the decision, forcing the dollar prices on the black market down accordingly.
On March 20, the interbank exchange rate announced by the State Bank of Vietnam was VND 16,981/US $1.00, up by VND 3/US $1.00 over the previous day. The dollar sale prices quoted by commercial banks hovered around VND 17,489-17,490/US $1.00.
VietNamNet, TT
|
