Thanks to the positive economic growth and the prosperity of the stock market, foreign indirect investment (FII) has started to flow strongly into Vietnam, State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said.

To date, the amount of foreign currencies from foreign investors transferred into accounts in Vietnam is estimated at about $350 million.

Thus, after a period of decline, so far, the capital flow has shown signs of strong growth again.

The central bank said that the increase of overseas remittances and FII into Vietnam in the first 6 months of 2010 has significantly contributed to boosting the supply of foreign currencies and helped in stabilising the forex market.

Inward remittances to Vietnam rose 30.5 percent from a year earlier to $2.05 billion in the first quarter of 2010, the central bank said on its website, predicting the six-month revenues at $3.6 billion.

According to SBV’s report, in the first quarter of 2010, inward remittances transferred to Vietnam reached $2.05 billion, up 30.5 percent over the same period in 2009. It is expected that in the first six months of 2010, the amount of inward remittances to the country will reach about $3.6 billion.

Inward remittances are mainly sent home to their relatives in the country by Viet Kieu [overseas Vietnamese] and Vietnamese people who work and study abroad, the central bank said.

The significant increase of the two capital sources has contributed in stabilising the domestic forex market, making the US dollar/dong exchange rate at commercial banks from April stable at around 19,000 dong per US dollar.

The US dollar/dong exchange rate on the free market is also around at 19,000 dong, even sometimes lower than that of commercial banks.

Vietnamnet