Southeast Asia’s digital economy will contribute 56% to its GDP by 2027
In 2022, the digital economy of Southeast Asia was estimated at $1.6tn GVA, which is equivalent to 44.8% of the region’s GDP. 62.9% of it was represented by the Digital payments sector, which is equivalent to approximately $1tn of gross value added. Digital payments were followed by Electronics & optical production (21%), Information and telecommunication infrastructure (7.4%), Digital commerce (5.6%), IT & software services (2%), Online media market (0.9%) and Mobile apps (0.3%).
Indonesia had the largest share of the digital economy in SEA (42.6% or $691.8 bn). It was followed by Malaysia (15.6%), Singapore (13%), Thailand (11.2%), Vietnam (10.7%), Philippines (5.7%), Myanmar (0.6%), Cambodia (0.3%), Laos (0.2%) and Brunei (0.1%). Analysts of UnaFinancial explain: “This coincides with the distribution of the countries by their GDPs, which also confirms the adequacy of the obtained estimates. Indonesia’s leadership is explained by the country’s population — in 2022, it made up 41.1% of the total population in Southeast Asia.”
In 2027, the GVA of the digital economy in Southeast Asia is expected to reach $2.35tn, increasing by 45% (+$732bn) compared to 2022. This amount corresponds to 55.7% of the projected GDP in 2027 against 44.8% in 2022.
Digital payments will remain the leading sector with a share of 61.5%. Digital commerce will grow from 5.6% to 10.1%, Mobile Apps – from 0.3% to 0.9%, and Online Media market – from 0.9% to 1.1%. At the same time, the share of other sectors will reduce. These include Electronic & optical production (from 21% to 17.5%), Telecommunication infrastructure (from 7.4% to 7%) and IT & software services (from 2% to 1.9%).
In absolute terms, the GVA of all sectors will grow. The largest increase will be shown by Mobile apps (+303%), followed by Digital commerce (+160%), Online media (+75%), Digital payments (+42%), Telecommunication infrastructure and IT & software (+39% each). The smallest increase will occur in Electronic & optical production (+21%).
Analysts add: “In the next few years, while digital economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines will make up 97,6% of the total in SEA, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Brunei may show the fastest growth given the timely introduction of digital technologies. Yet, the faster growth rates are explained by the small size of these economies in terms of GDP. This means that they will still be sensitive to various structural transformations.”
