THE country’s digital economy has contributed 9.6 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) up 7.8 percent to P1.87 trillion from P1.73 trillion in 2020, according to the latest report by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The digital economy is composed of digital transactions covering digital-enabling infrastructure, e-commerce, and digital media/content.
Of the total digital transactions in 2021, a digital-enabling infrastructure shared the bulk with 79.6 percent or P1.49 trillion. This is higher by 7.6 percent from the P1.38 trillion digital transactions in 2020. Under the digital-enabling infrastructure, telecommunication services, and professional and business services had the highest shares in the digital economy at 31.5 percent and 27.1 percent, respectively.
E-commerce contributed 17.6 percent while digital media/content shared 2.8 percent in 2021. The strict quarantine restrictions during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 highly affected e-commerce transactions particularly in accommodation, transport, and other tourism-related activities. While e-commerce transactions were noted to increase for online selling, delivery, and courier services, the total transactions declined by 31.4 percent in 2020, mainly due to a decline in online tourism-related activities.
In 2020, there were 5.01 million Filipinos employed in the digital economy. This reached 5.59 million persons in 2021, posting an increase of 11.6 percent. Employment in digital-enabling infrastructure recorded the highest share in 2021 with 76.9 percent, followed by e-commerce (20.7 percent) and digital media/content (2.4 percent).