Finance sector leading in readiness to apply information technology

The command center is equipped with a modern surveillance camera system at Terminal 2-Noi Bai station. Photo: H. Linh

100% of administrative procedures provided with online public services

Recently, the ranking of Vietnam ICT Index (index of readiness for IT development and application) of ministries and sectors assessed by the Ministry of Information and Communications in collaboration with the Vietnam Informatics Association announced that the Ministry of Finance continued to lead the rank. This is the eighth consecutive year from 2013 to 2020, the Ministry of Finance maintained this position. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance has always been ranked in the top 3 ministries on the PAR Index for six consecutive years from 2014-2019. This is the recognition of agencies, organisations, people and firms about the efforts in administrative reform and IT application of the Ministry of Finance.

According to the Ministry of Finance, implementing the policies of the Party and the Government on promoting the development of e-Government and deploying IT applications, the finance sector has focused on the goal of providing online public services for people and businesses on the basis of standardising administrative procedures, applying IT in administrative reform, with apply many forms of service support through integrated technology devices; building an information system to serve for the direction and administration of leaders; providing multi-dimensional information, supporting analysis, statistics, forecasting and building standard data warehouses based on modern technology.

The Ministry of Finance has built large financial information systems which play a fundamental role in State budget-finance activities such as: integrated treasury and budget management information system (TABMIS), Centralised Tax Management System (TMS), Customs Procedure Automation System and the National Single Window (VNACCS/VCIS); Digital data exchange system of the finance sector (the information exchange center for state budget revenue); building a system for the professional management of national reserves. Besides that, large-scale application and core systems, highly integrated database systems of the State Securities Commission have also been built like the electronic portal system of the Securities Commission (Portal); trading monitoring system on the stock market (MSS); securities company management database system (SCMS). Along with that, the Ministry of Finance has gradually applied IT in the fields of financial management (prices, public assets, firms, insurance...) following the reform and the modernisation roadmap of specialised units.

To date, 100% of administrative procedures of the Ministry of Finance have been provided with online public services. Online public services of the ministry provide more and more utilities, help to reduce time and costs and bring satisfaction to organisations and individuals and businesses when participating in transactions with finance authorities. According to the report of the Ministry of Finance, as of May 31, 2021, the total number of administrative procedures of the Ministry of Finance is 895 procedures, of which 94 online public services have been provided at level 1, 283 public services are at level 2, 80 public services are at level 3 and 438 services are at level 4. Up to now, 285/518 level 3 and 4 services have been connected and integrated on the National Public Service Portal, reaching a rate of 55.02%.

Prioritise digital transformation

In 2021, the Ministry of Finance will continue to strictly control administrative procedures under its management to comprehensively and effectively reform administrative procedures, facilitate to people and businesses, improve business environment and enhance national competitiveness.

Regarding the digital transformation roadmap of the finance sector, by the end of 2020, building Master Architecture towards the Digital Finance Ministry has been issued by the Ministry of Finance under Decision No. 2366/QD-BTC. In the period of 2021 -2025, the financial sector will continue to complete the construction of e-government towards the Ministry of Finance; will deploy to build an operating system based on digitisation, integrating collaboration tools and documents in the finance industry; modernised reporting system integrated with the finance sector; interest rate, exchange rate and market risk management information system; the system of inspection, supervision and handling of tax debts, the information system of inspection, supervision and handling of customs violations. According to Nguyen Viet Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Informatics and Financial Statistics, the Ministry of Finance, by 2030aims to complete the construction of a modern digital financial ecosystem with a smart connection and sharing mechanism, creating added value ​​towards an economy comprehensive digital economy.

According to the Ministry of Finance, at present, IT application and digital transformation serve leadership, management and administration of important tasks, especially in the fields of State budget, tax, customs and state treasury and other fields are continued to be considered by the Ministry of Finance as a key task and strongly implemented, as the backbone throughout the process of leadership and administration of the finance sector.

At a recent meeting with the Ministry of Finance, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked the Ministry of Finance to take the lead in digital transformation, building a large database; invest in facilities; design tools to control public debt in a reasonable, effective and sustainable manner. At the same time, focus on investing in modernising the management of state revenue and expenditure, especially tax, customs and state treasury management in the direction of publicity open, transparent, fair, efficient and stable based on digital technology application and building a large database, it is necessary to dedicate resources and give priority to digital transformation.