According to a new scheme approved by the Prime Minister, the value of non-cash payments would be 25 times higher than GDP and the proportion of the payment method in e-commerce would account for 50% by 2025.

The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has unexpectedly created "golden" conditions for the financial industry to accelerate digital transformation and shift to cashless payments.

Three mobile network operators - Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone - have applied for the implementation of their own Mobile Money pilot projects.

Transactions via mobile devices recorded a year-on-year surge of 198% in volume and 210% in value last year.

Non-cash payments have increased sharply, especially through mobile devices and the internet, according to the State Bank of Vietnam.

Vietnam is aiming to have 55 percent of its population shopping online by 2025, with average consumer spending rising to $600 per year, according to a master plan on e-commerce development for 2021-25 recently approved by Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung.

Money can spread germs and bacteria, and amid the complicated developments of the novel corona virus Sars-CoV-2, many people have switched to cashless payments to protect them from unnecessary contact with contaminated money.

The fees for fast interbank fund transfers will be cut for the second time this year to promote cashless payments amid the rapid spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) announced on March 16.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued a resolution to boost cashless payments in the country.

Cashless payments would not only increase of the circulation of capital, it would also help boost the internet economy, said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.