Vietnam wants digital economy to account for one fifth of GDP by 2025
Vietnam has set itself a goal that the digital economy should represent 20 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, the official government website said, citing a draft decision by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Furthermore, the National Party Congress, which meets every five years, has set a target for the digital sector to make up 30 ore cent of GDP by 2030, according to a Bloomberg News report.
For some observers, it is an ambitious goal. Although Vietnam has been open to digital ventures and startups in the past, it has an ambivalent regulatory stance on cryptocurrencies and no venture capital ecosystem to speak of.
Vietnam’s digital economy has to catch up
Currently, Vietnam’s digital economy currently accounts for just 8.2 per cent of GDP, according to figures released by the Ministry of Information and Communications in July. Retail business intelligence firm Euromonitor International estimates that e-commerce represented a mere three per cent of Vietnam’s retail market last year, the smallest slice among Southeast Asia’s major economies.
However, Vietnam officials now want 80 per cent of the population to have online payment accounts by 2025 in a bid to make at least half of e-commerce transaction cashless instead of the popular cash on delivery option used by many customers now.
More than 50 million smartphone users
While the time span seems to be short to achieve the goal, Vietnam has the prerequisites for strengthening its digital economy, with a young and tech savvy population of nearly 100 million of which more than half are using smartphones. There are also more foreign investors showing interest in Vietnam’s digital potential, including China’s Alibaba.
The country’s digital economy is forecast to grow to $52 billion by 2025 from 2020, expanding nearly 30 per cent per year, according to a study by Google and Singapore’s sovereign investment fund Temasek.
Vietnam has set itself a goal that the digital economy should represent 20 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, the official government website said, citing a draft decision by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Furthermore, the National Party Congress, which meets every five years, has set a target for the digital sector to make up 30 ore cent of GDP by 2030, according to a Bloomberg News report. For some observers, it is an ambitious goal. Although Vietnam has been open to digital ventures and startups in the past, it has an ambivalent regulatory stance on cryptocurrencies...
Vietnam has set itself a goal that the digital economy should represent 20 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, the official government website said, citing a draft decision by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Furthermore, the National Party Congress, which meets every five years, has set a target for the digital sector to make up 30 ore cent of GDP by 2030, according to a Bloomberg News report.
For some observers, it is an ambitious goal. Although Vietnam has been open to digital ventures and startups in the past, it has an ambivalent regulatory stance on cryptocurrencies and no venture capital ecosystem to speak of.
Vietnam’s digital economy has to catch up
Currently, Vietnam’s digital economy currently accounts for just 8.2 per cent of GDP, according to figures released by the Ministry of Information and Communications in July. Retail business intelligence firm Euromonitor International estimates that e-commerce represented a mere three per cent of Vietnam’s retail market last year, the smallest slice among Southeast Asia’s major economies.
However, Vietnam officials now want 80 per cent of the population to have online payment accounts by 2025 in a bid to make at least half of e-commerce transaction cashless instead of the popular cash on delivery option used by many customers now.
More than 50 million smartphone users
While the time span seems to be short to achieve the goal, Vietnam has the prerequisites for strengthening its digital economy, with a young and tech savvy population of nearly 100 million of which more than half are using smartphones. There are also more foreign investors showing interest in Vietnam’s digital potential, including China’s Alibaba.
The country’s digital economy is forecast to grow to $52 billion by 2025 from 2020, expanding nearly 30 per cent per year, according to a study by Google and Singapore’s sovereign investment fund Temasek.
