Digital economy hitting 20 per cent of Malaysia’s GDP by 2020 easily achievable, says expert
Microsoft Malaysia director says millennials will not only drive digital economy as consumers but also as entrepreneurs
By Alexis See Tho
Malaysia’s target for the digital economy to make up 20 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020 is easily achievable, according to an expert.
“The digital economy currently contributes 16.8 per cent to the GDP and the government aims for it to reach 20 per cent of the GDP by 2020,” said Microsoft Malaysia’s director of legal, corporate and government affairs Jasmine Begum.
Commenting on the country’s present digital economy, she said that Malaysia “will easily exceed those numbers”.
She added that millennials, who were born into a digital environment, will drive the growth of digital economy. “You have a generation of people who click and buy. It’s a swipe economy.”
Begum was part of a panel discussion at the launch of The Digital Economy and the Free Flow of Data report conducted by trade association the US-Asean Business Council, and audit and consulting firm Deloitte.
