This translates to an expected rise of 4.5 percent from 2016, said Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the central bank’s Ho Chi Minh City branch.

As 2017 approaches its end, the flow of inward remittances to the southern hub has surged roughly 1.5 times compared to the earlier months of the year, Minh said.

Between January and September, the city received $375-400 million per month in remittances on average.

This number spiked to $600 million in October and topped $650 million in November, Minh cited statistics acquired by the central bank.

Over the January-November period of 2017, a total of $4.55 billion in inward remittance flowed into Ho Chi Minh City.

If the trend is to persist, the city is expected to receive at least $650 million in remittances in December, putting the year-end total at around $5.2 billion.

Over 60 percent of Ho Chi Minh City-bound remittances come from the U.S., while Europe is the second-largest source, at over 19 percent.

According to reports by the local branch of the State Bank of Vietnam, 72 percent of the remittances were spent on production and ventures, while 22 percent were poured into real estate.

The remaining six percent were used for personal purposes.

As the State Bank of Vietnam continues to regulate zero-percent interest rates on U.S. dollar savings for both individual and corporate clients as an anti-dollarization effort, many recipients of remittances now exchange the dollar for the Vietnamese dong to deposit for better rates, Minh pointed out.

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