Digital economy to contribute 20% of GDP by 2025

Under Decision No. 411/QD-TTg 2022 approving the National Strategy on the Development of the Digital Economy and Digital Society to 2025, signed by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam on March 31, the target by 2025 is for the digital economy to contribute 20 per cent of GDP and its proportion in each industry to reach at least 10 per cent.

The strategy identifies digital development with growth creation based on digital technology and digital data as input factors, becoming one of the new development methods for Vietnam to develop quickly, sustainably, and inclusively, adaptive and resilient to challenges in an unpredictably volatile world.

By 2025, the proportion of e-commerce in total retail sales is to reach over 10 per cent, the rate of enterprises using e-contracts over 80 per cent, the rate of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using digital platforms over 50 per cent, and the percentage of digital economy workers over 2 per cent of the workforce.

The digital economy includes the ICT (information and communications technology) economy, the digital platform economy, and the industrial digital economy. It aims to develop the ICT economy with a focus on businesses and “Make in Vietnam” digital technology products, in harmony with selective FDI attraction and increasing export content. The digital platform economy will be developed with a focus on national digital platforms as a driving force of development in the digital economy of all sectors and fields. The digital economy in each industry will focus on prioritizing the use of shared and unified digital platforms in each industry and field.

Regarding the goal of developing a digital society, the strategy clearly states that a digital society is a society that integrates digital technology into all aspects of life. The strategy also touches on perfecting digital institutions, developing infrastructure, digital platforms, and digital data, and ensuring information safety and network security. Other factors such as workforce, e-documents, and so on were also mentioned.

Under the Decision, the Ministry of Information and Communications is assigned to assume prime responsibility for organizing the implementation of the strategy and to annually summarize and report to the Prime Minister on implementation.