A conference to release the Asia Digital Economy Report is held in Beijing on December 21 (TAO XING)

Asia continues to be a locomotive of growth amid the overall deceleration of the world economy, Li Baodong, Secretary General of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), a platform for dialogue and collaboration among Asian countries and regions on topics of common interest, said at the conference held to release the report. 

The BFA has identified the digital economy as a major subject for discussion and research in recent years and the report is a collaborative effort between the BFA and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. 

Analysis indicates Asia's digital economy has maintained steady progress despite economic challenges. In 2022, the scale of the digital economy in the 14 Asian countries studied reached a combined $12.8 trillion, a nominal increase of 3.5 percent year on year, accounting for 38.5 percent of GDP, according to the report. 

Major Asian countries are speeding up the development of their digital economies and have achieved substantial results. In 2022, China ranked first in the scale of its digital economy with a valuation of $7.47 trillion. Japan ranked second with $2.37 trillion, followed by the Republic of Korea at $952.3 billion, the report read. Additionally, the digital economies of another six countries, including India, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Indonesia, Israel and Malaysia, exceeded $100 billion. 

In 2022, Saudi Arabia had the highest year-on-year growth rate in Asia, with its digital economy growing by 29.3 percent in 2022, the report said. 

The report also pointed out that given the obvious gap in the maturity of the digital economy, Asian countries are different from each other in terms of investment. There are many challenges to cooperation on digital economy between Asian nations. Solving them requires joint efforts for shared benefits, for example, by strengthening network construction and research collaboration to enhance the connectivity of information infrastructure.  

The BFA will continue to closely monitor the progress of the digital economy in Asia, Li said. He hopes this report will not only attract more attention but also inspire stakeholders to conduct additional research on the digital economy in Asia.  

"The report is also intended as part of a joint effort to empower Asian countries to benefit from the digital economy, amplify Asian voices in the global formulation of digital economy rules, and contribute to advancing the digital transformation of the global economy," Li concluded. 

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