Vietnam Customs is ranked second in the 2016 ICT Index Table of Finance

	Improving national competitiveness
	Vietnam Customs Efficiency Improvement: Major driven factor of trade facilitation in 2016
	Five highlights of the stock market in 2017

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Mrs. Vu Thi Mai awarded agencies at the first place in the 2016 ICT Index Table.

The increasing development of ICT application in financial operations requires the use of scientific tools and reliable data. One of the tools for assessing and analyzing the application of ICT which has been used by the National Steering Committee for IT to rank the level of application and development of ICT in Vietnam is the Vietnam ICT Index.

For the importance and efficiency of the ICT Index, since 2008, the Department of IT and Financial Statistics has submitted to the Ministry of Finance to assigned eFinance Journal to build the ICT Index of Finance every year and publicize ranking results on the website http://efinance.vn (or http://taichinhdientu.vn) and ICT Index of Vietnam built up by the National Steering Committee on IT.

2016 was the eighth consecutive year that the eFinance Journal - the Department of IT and Financial Statistics (under the Ministry of Finance) performed data collection, analysis, evaluation and provided a report on the level of IT development and application in Finance (the ICT Index of Finance). The ICT Index of Finance will help State agencies in the Finance sector to determine where they are in the Index Table, thus they may seek a more effective IT development strategy.

The 2016 ICT Index of Finance has been constructed on the basis of the organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance, including provincial and municipal agencies, groups and Departments.

The 2016 ICT Index of Finance was surveyed in 5 groups with 283 units, including the Central System (6 units); the group of provincial and municipal Departments (the Department of Finance, the Department of Taxation, the State Treasury of provinces/ cities, the Department of Customs and the State Reserve Department of regions) with 244 units. The group of subordinate agencies under the Ministry of Finance consists of 19 units. The group of non-business organizations under the Ministry of Finance consists of 10 units. The group of enterprises under the Ministry of Finance consists of 4 units.

With 68 indicators, the 2016 ICT Index of Finance has focused on the following areas: IT infrastructure (9 indicators), IT application (23 indicators), IT human resources (16 indicators), investment for IT (13 indicators) and organizational environment - policy (7 indicators).

As a result, the General Department of Taxation was ranked first, followed by the General Department of Vietnam Customs and subordinate agencies under the Ministry of Finance. Regarding the group of the provincial and municipal Departments of Finance, the Hanoi Finance Department continued to maintain the first place, followed by the Lam Dong Finance Department and the Dong Thap Finance Department. Regarding the group of the provincial and municipal State Treasuries, the State Treasury of Hau Giang Province was ranked first, followed by the State Treasury of Ha Giang province and the State Treasury of Bac Lieu province.

Regarding the group of provincial and municipal Taxation Departments, the Taxation Department of Nghe An province was ranked first (from the tenth rank in 2015); the Taxation Department of Hau Giang province was ranked second and the Taxation Department of Cao Bang was ranked third. Regarding the group of provincial and municipal Customs Departments, the Da Nang Customs Department was ranked first; followed by the Quang Tri Customs Department and the Binh Duong Customs Department.

Preliminary assessment of Vietnam international merchandise trade performance in the first 2 months of 2017 VCN- 1. According to trade statistics of Vietnam Customs, in the second month of 2017, a 2.6% ...

Regarding the group of provincial and municipal State Reserve Departments: the Ha Bac State Reserve Department was ranked first; followed by the Tay Bac State Reserve Department and the North of Tay Nguyen State Reserve Department.