Cash Remains Popular Amid Cashless Boom in Vietnam

While cashless payments have seen a rapid increase in popularity in Vietnam, cash remains widely used and is experiencing a comeback as pandemic restrictions ease.

The National Payment Corporation of Vietnam reported cashless transactions rose by 169 percent between 2020 and 2021. A Saigon Coop survey found 17 percent of people planned to make more cashless payments in future, however alongside this figure, Vietnam Economy News observes ‘cash habits still dominate, and people are worried about security.’ It spoke to Thùy Trang, who owns a fruit store in Ho Chi Minh City and said the majority of her orders were paid for using cashless methods while strict social distancing measures were in place, but there has been a rise in cash payments as life returns to normal.

The FIS 2021 Global Payments Report reported 58 percent of Vietnam’s point-of-sale transactions were made in cash, while data from the State Bank of Vietnam found cash accounted for 11.53 percent of all payments nationwide as of April 2021. This was a slight rise from 11.05 percent at the end of 2020, which Intellasia suggests could be showing a tendency towards increase in opposition to government efforts to limit cash payments to below 10 percent by the end of 2020.

Given FIS reports point-of-sale cash use in Vietnam remains well above its estimate of an average 19 percent for the Asia-Pacific region, its present forecast is that cash will remain the top in-person payment choice for now, alongside other cash-loving nations such as Indonesia, Japan and The Philippines.