HCM City remittances reach $2.4b ahead of peak season   An employee at VP Bank counts dollars. The 5.2 per cent increase of overseas remittances to HCM City in the first seven months was a positive sign, as the peak remittance season hadn't begun yet, experts said. - VNA/VNS Photo Truong Vi HA NOI (VNS) - Overseas remittances to HCM City in the first seven months reached US$2.42 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.2 per cent. Head of the State Bank of Viet Nam's City branch, Nguyen Hoang Minh told the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that in July around $170 million was remitted to the City. Minh saw the increase as a positive sign because the peak remittance season hadn't begun yet. In the first six months, the remittance volume through the banking system in HCM City was mainly from Europe and the US. Market observers in the City said that recipients of overseas remittances were getting less interested in securities, deposits and gold due to the low profit of 0.25 to 1 per cent annually, which was a result of the Government's policy in the last two years to discourage people from hoarding the dollar. To ensure a substantial recovery, recipients are likely to invest in the property market which the Government's housing packages are designed to support. In 2013, about $4.8 billion was transferred to Viet Nam through HCM City. Of this, 72 per cent went into production and business, 21 per cent into the real estate market and the remainder was sent to support relatives. Last year, Viet Nam was among the top 10 remittance recipients with $11 billion, and it is likely to stay robust this year, according to the World Bank's Migration and Development Brief released in April. - VNS