THE value of the coun-try’s digital economy is now over P2 trillion based on the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
PSA data showed the digital economy in 2022 amounted to P2.08 trillion, an 11-percent growth from the P1.87 trillion recorded in 2021.
However, PSA data showed the digital economy contributed 9.4 percent to the country’s economy or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in current prices—the lowest share in five years.
“Overall GDP grew faster than the Digital Economy sub sector. GDP at current 2022 growth rate (was at) 13.5 percent,” National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told BusinessMirror on Wednesday.
“So denominator—overall GDP —grew faster than numerator— digital economy—thereby reducing the share,” he explained.
PSA said the digital economy is composed of digital transactions covering Digital-enabling infrastructure, E-commerce, and Digital media/content.
Of the total amount of digital transactions in 2022, Digital-enabling infrastructure made up the largest share amounting to P1.6 trillion or 77.2 percent.
The total amount of transactions on Digital-enabling infrastructure in 2022 was higher by 7.5 percent than its amount of P1.49 trillion in 2021.
Top contributors
The top two contributors under Digital-enabling infrastructure were Telecommunication services and Professional and Business services with 30.7 percent and 27 percent shares, respectively.
E-commerce, which accounted for 20 percent of the total digital economy in 2022, grew by 26.5 percent from its previous year’s record of P328.84 billion.
Meanwhile, the data showed that digital media/content accounted for P57.41 billion or 2.8 percent of the total digital economy. It grew by 11.8 percent in 2022.
The estimated number of employed persons in the digital economy was 6.05 million in 2022. This count was 8.2 percent higher than the 5.59 million persons employed in the digital economy in 2021.
The data on the digital economy is based on the results of the pilot study done by the technical staff of the PSA.
Since the methodology is currently being refined for presentation later to the PSA Board, the results are considered preliminary.