Delegates attend a meeting on digital enterprises and innovation in Hà Nội on Friday. — Photo tienphong.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth reached 6.81 per cent last year, the highest in the last decade.

The country’s competitive capacity increased five places to rank 55th out of 137 countries, its innovation index increased 12 ranks and the index of sustainable development rose 20 places.

These achievements are attributed to the efforts of the Government in transforming the economic growth model, applying the achievements of industry 4.0 and promoting innovation in the digital era, announced a meeting on digital enterprises and innovation in Hà Nội on Friday. It was co-organised by the Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy (BCSI) and the Việt Nam Internet Association.

The digital economy has four pillars, which are digital technology infrastructure, supporting infrastructure, electronic business and e-commerce, said Nguyễn Thị Minh Huyền, deputy head of the Việt Nam eCommerce and Digital Economy Agency.

The country has a population of 96 million, of which 35 per cent are city dwellers. The number of Internet users is 64 million, accounting for 67 per cent of the total population.

Huyền noted that the supporting infrastructure for digital technology in Việt Nam was still modest.

According to a survey of the Việt Nam eCommerce and Digital Economy Agency, only 40 per cent of the country’s population had banking accounts.

The online payment rate accounted for only 10 per cent of transactions.

According to Universal Postal Union 2017, the index for postal development of Việt Nam was only about 47.8 per cent.

A survey of the Việt Nam eCommerce and Digital Economy Agency last year also showed that 40 per cent of online shoppers were not satisfied with shipping services.

In term of electronic business, only 18 per cent of Vietnamese industrial enterprises are ready for digital transformation, a survey of the Ministry of Industry and Trade revealed.

Up to 61 per cent of enterprises are still standing outside, while 21 per cent of the enterprises have had initial preparation.

In terms of e-commerce, the market has seen rapid development in the recent years with an annual growth of 25 per cent.

The size of the business-to-customers (B2C) e-commerce market in Việt Nam reached about US$62 billion last year.

Of which, the average value of online shopping per person was $186 last year.

President of the BCSI Institute Council Nguyễn Văn Nam emphasised that to survive and develop in the digital era, enterprises had to change and accelerate the application of information technology into their production and management system.

Võ Trí Thành, director of the institute, said that in the integration era with the trend of "digitisation" in all fields, enterprises could not stay still.

Previously, the economy was based mainly on companies, but now it is based on the public and individuals, Thành said.

Each individual could be a programmer in today’s modern economy, he said. — VNS