Learn from digital economy plans in ASEAN

By Nurfilzah Rohaidi

How are Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam boosting their economies with digital strategies?

The contribution of ICT to GDP in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam is around 13%, 6% and 6% respectively. This shows the level of growth of the digital economy in these countries, and the transformative potential of national digital agendas.

Approaches differ, but are no less ambitious. In Malaysia, the Public-Sector ICT Strategic Plan (2016-2020) proposes that certain government services will be offered only digitally; citizens’ IDs for accessing online services; and 19 agencies will offer mobile payments by 2020.

Digital Thailand 4.0 aims to launch a new economic model to develop the country into a value-based economy. And Vietnam hopes to reduce the use of cash to less than 10% of daily transactions and to promote mobile payment platforms for rural areas.

A discussion paper outlining these digital economy plans and a digital development ‘toolkit’ shares the policy and regulatory tools governments can use and the strategic choices they must make. Learn more by downloading the paper - simply fill out the form below.