Digital economy contributes 8.4 pct to Philippine economy in 2023

MANILA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The digital economy amounted to 2.05 trillion pesos (35.396 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023, contributing 8.4 percent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Thursday.

"This resulted in a 7.7 percent growth from the 1.90 trillion pesos (32.8 billion dollars) gross value added of the digital economy in 2022," the agency said.

The digital economy comprises digital transactions covering digital-enabling infrastructure, e-commerce, digital media/content, and government digital services. The government digital service is a newly added component to support the government services directly supporting the digital economy.

Of the digital subcomponents, digital-enabling infrastructure comprises the bulk of the digital economy, amounting to 1.70 trillion pesos (29.36 billion dollars). The top three biggest shares under this component come from telecommunication services, professional and business services, and computer, electronic and optical products, with 32.9 percent, 30.1 percent, and 17.1 percent shares in the digital economy, respectively.

Moreover, e-commerce had a share of 14 percent, digital media/content had 2.9 percent, and government digital services had a share of 0.2 percent.

In 2023, the PSA said there were 9.68 million persons employed in the digital economy. E-commerce had the highest share in employment with 87.3 percent, followed by digital-enabling infrastructure, digital media/content, and government digital services with 11.5 percent, 1.1 percent, and 0.1 percent shares, respectively.