Việt Nam’s digital economy is projected to increase by 16 per cent to $36 billion this year. — Photo courtesy of vneconomy.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam has adopted a national action plan on digital economy development, which outlines key tasks and solutions for the 2024-25 period.

The freshly-issued plan aims to accelerate the development of Việt Nam's digital economy in line with the targets set in Decision No. 411/QĐ-TTg dated March 31, 2022, which approved the National Strategy on Digital Economy and Digital Society Development by 2025 with a vision toward 2030.

It identifies sector-specific digital economy growth as the primary avenue for expansion, while highlighting the gradual integration of digital technologies and data as critical inputs in production and business activities across various sectors, ultimately enhancing overall efficiency and competitiveness in the economy.

The plan puts forth four major tasks and solutions, covering ICT-based digital economy, digital data, sector-specific digital economy, and digital governance.

Accordingly, information technology serves the foundational sector to drive digital economy growth. The plan also promotes the readiness of high-quality datasets as well as the circulation, sharing, and opening of data.

Priorities will be given to key sectors where Việt Nam has significant potential for digital economy, including wholesale and retail, agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, and logistics.

The plan touches upon the pilot deployment of virtual assistant platforms across ministries, agencies, and localities before scaling up. These platforms will support officials in drafting legal documents and performing public duties, assist citizens with legal matters, and provide other virtual assistant functions.

Double-digit growth

Việt Nam's digital economy continues its solid double-digit growth driven by e-commerce and online travel, according to the annual Southeast Asia Digital Economy report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company.

The report, titled “Profits on the Rise, Harnessing SEA’s Advantage,” looked at the digital economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Việt Nam and covered six key sectors: e-commerce, food delivery, transport, online travel, online media, and financial services.

Việt Nam’s gross merchandise value (GMV) was projected to increase by 16 per cent to $36 billion this year.

Its e-commerce would likely surge by 18 per cent year-over-year to $22 billion, and be the main growth accelerator of the digital economy.

In Southeast Asia, this sector’s growth was being turbocharged by video commerce, a sub-segment that had experienced rapid growth, contributing to increased GMV and customer acquisition.

The country's online travel sector, growing at 16 per cent YoY to $5 billion in 2024, would contribute significantly to the overall GMV.

Việt Nam had the fastest growing online media in the region, with GMV poised to surge to $6 billion this year, a 14 per cent increase, and $11 billion by 2030.

Việt Nam was levelling up game development with a growing pool of talented developers and a supportive ecosystem, making it a hotbed for innovation in the mobile gaming sector.

Its ride-hailing sector was getting more competitive with local and electric vehicle players.

Its GMV for the transport and food sectors was expected to hit $4 billion, a 12 per cent increase.

HCM City and Đà Nẵng had the highest demand for AI in the country.

Education, marketing and healthcare were the three industries mostly driving AI search interest in the country.

Việt Nam was rapidly turning cashless, fuelled by public initiatives and innovative financial solutions.

The rise of e-wallets, coupled with the widespread adoption of QR code payments, had significantly reduced cash transactions.

Government initiatives had standardised payment systems and enhanced interoperability, further encouraging the shift away from cash.

Marc Woo, managing director, Vietnam, Google Asia Pacific, said: “For the last five years we have seen consistent strong growth and 2024 is another testament to the potential of Việt Nam’s digital economy.

“The country’s digital economy maintains double digit growth rates amidst global economic uncertainties driven by the key accelerator, e-commerce.

“Additionally, the online media sector is rising the fastest (14 per cent) amongst all SEA economies and more Vietnamese developers are making a global impact, creating popular apps for users worldwide.

“Vietnamese users have also shown strong interest in AI in 2024 and it’s encouraging to see that the country's leaders are prioritising this area. Google’s commitment to ‘Build for Việt Nam, with Google AI’ further supports the growth of Việt Nam’s digital economy via a focus on talent, startups and enterprises to be AI-ready.” — VNS