FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Thailand’s roaring digital economy set to hit THB1.28 trillion this year

Thailand’s roaring digital economy set to hit THB1.28 trillion this year

Thailand’s booming digital economy is projected to grow 17 per cent year on year and reach a massive US$35 billion (1.28 trillion baht) in 2022 driven by e-commerce, according to the e-Conomy SEA Report 2022.

The seventh edition of the Southeast Asia report was jointly released by Google, global investment company Temasek and American management consulting firm Bain & Company.

Thailand’s digital economy is expected to reach $53 billion in 2025 with a 15% compound annual growth rate and is projected to double to approximately $100 billion to $165 billion in 2030.

Jackie Wang

“For Thailand, e-commerce remains the primary driver of digital economy growth in 2022,” said Google Thailand director Jackie Wang. “Thailand’s e-commerce market is also the second largest in Southeast Asia after Indonesia.”

Considering each sector, Thai e-commerce is expected to grow 8% year on year to $22 billion this year and is projected to reach $32 billion in 2025.

Meanwhile, transport and food delivery is projected to hit $3 billion this year, up 12% year on year, and grow 20% to $5 billion in 2025.

However, the growth of online media (video-on-demand, music-on-demand, gaming) tapers at 10% to reach $5 billion this year after a peak period triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. The online media sector is projected to grow 12% to $7 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2025.

Travel, too, is seeing a strong recovery as mobility exceeds pre-pandemic levels. The sector grew a huge 139% from 2021 to reach $5 billion in GMV in 2022, and is projected to reach $9 billion in 2025, with a 22% compound annual growth rate.

Meanwhile, the country’s Digital Financial Services (DFS) saw double-digit growth in 2022 across all sectors – payments, remittance, lending, investment, and insurance. All this is thanks to enduring offline to online behaviour shifts post-pandemic.

DFS accounted for the highest share of total investor funding in Thailand, with more than $150 million raised in the first half of this year alone.

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