Vietnamese overseas remittance stands at $8 bln in 2008

Despite the global economic crisis, the remittance inflow from overseas Vietnamese is estimated to go up by 1.3 billion U.S. dollars to 8 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, said source with the Overseas Vietnamese Committee under Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs here on Tuesday.

The increasing number of Vietnamese people going abroad for work and study has helped increase the amount of overseas remittance to Vietnam in 2008, said Nguyen Quoc Dung, vice chairman of the committee.

According to Nguyen Ngoc Lan, director of the Foreign Exchange Management Department under the State Bank of Vietnam, Vietnam's stable foreign exchange rate and policies on foreign exchange management have helped attract remittance.

There are about 3 million Vietnamese people now working in 40 countries and regions, who remit 70 to 80 percent of their annual income to their relatives in Vietnam, said the committee.

The United Nations listed Vietnam among the top ten countries receiving the biggest overseas remittance in 2006.

However, domestic and foreign financial experts warned overseas Vietnamese may face lower income in 2009 due to global financial difficulties which may hurt overseas remittance inflow.