This is required under a government resolution to improve the business climate and economic competitiveness by 2021.

Besides schools and hospitals, electricity, drainage, sanitation, telecom, and postal utilities must also coordinate with banks to accept non-cash payments. 

The city wants them to prioritize payments via mobile devices and devices that accept cards. The Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation in particular has been told to encourage electronic payments.

The city’s Social Insurance Agency has been given a target of making 50 percent of pension and welfare payments non-cash by the end of this year. 

The Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs has pledged to pay at least 10 percent of benefits electronically this year and increase it to 30 percent next year. 

The city has called on the State Bank of Vietnam to publicize the transactions that can only be done via bank transfer.

The government has sought suggestions from the central bank for amending legal provisions to increase non-cash payments for property transactions.  

Electronic payments in the country increased by 22 percent in 2017 to $6.14 billion, Nikkei Asian Review quoted Statista, a local market research firm, as saying. The figure is projected to rise to $12.33 billion by 2022.

According to economists, the potential for cashless payments is huge due to the growing middle class and rapidly improving telecom infrastructure. 

But the reliance on cash remains huge. Some 80 percent of Vietnamese prefer to use cash for daily transactions, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.