Vietnam government steps up e-payment to prevent Covid-19
Vietnam’s government is scheduled to integrate an additional 15 – 20 public online procedures to the national public services portal on March 13, with a focus on e-payment services.
Amid the spread of Covid-19 epidemic, the collection of fees for online public services through e-payment methods has significant meaning as it minimizes interactions and creates convenience for enterprises and citizens, according to Mai Tien Dung, minister – chairman of the Government Office.
| Mai Tien Dung, minister – chairman of the Government Office, at the meeting. Source: VGP. |
Vietnam’s government is scheduled to integrate an additional 15 – 20 public online procedures to the national public services portal on March 13, with a focus on e-payment services, Dung said at a government meeting on March 10.
These include collecting administrative fines in road transportation; income taxes; registration fees for automobiles and motorcycles; corporate taxes; and birth registration; among others.
Since the launch of the national public services portal on December 9, 2019, a total of 77,200 accounts have been set up with 20.9 million of visits and over 2.6 million applications, indicating positive responses from the people and enterprises, Dung said.
As of present, 13 out of 22 ministries, and government agencies, as well as all 63 provinces/cities have integrated their respective public online services to the portal.
Dung referred to the instruction of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc that the government’s priorities in 2020 focus on administrative reforms and improving the quality and effectiveness in serving the people and enterprises.
“Efforts to reform public online services would bring substantial benefits to the people during the Covid-19 epidemic,” Dung concluded.
The main benefit of the national public services portal is to ensure full transparency of administrative procedures, enabling individuals and organizations to track the progress of processing public services and responsibilities of government agencies.
By logging in to the website https://dichvucong.gov.vn through a single account, citizens and enterprises could access all online public services provided by ministries and provinces from anywhere and at anytime.
The use of the portal is estimated to save VND4.22 trillion (US$181.54 million) per year for state budget. The figure would continue to rise with more online public services integrated into the portal.
As of present, just 40% of citizens in Vietnam have bank accounts. However, the majority of daily transactions are conducted in cash. Under the plan on non-cash payment in Vietnam in the 2016 - 2020 period approved by the prime minister, by the end of 2020, the ratio of cash transactions will be reduced from 90% in 2016 to below 10%. |
