Southeast Asia’s digital economy is on track to hit US$200 billion GMV this year – a 20% year-on-year increase, despite global headwinds and the impact of macroeconomic forces.

The latest e-Conomy SEA report – Through the waves, towards a sea of opportunity – jointly released by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, also forecasts that on its current growth trajectory, SEA could unlock up to US$1 trillion through its digital economy by 2030. 

The report tracks the performance of the digital economy across six SEA countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and for five key digital sectors – e-commerce, online media, transport & food, online media and digital financial services. It also looks at the outlook for nascent sectors and SEA’s technology funding landscape.

According to this year’s report, there is still significant headroom for growth in areas like e-commerce, which is expected to hit 16% GMV growth this year despite a return to offline shopping. Double-digit growth is also expected across all sub-sectors of digital financial services.

Meanwhile, while food delivery has returned to trendline growth following a surge during the lockdown, there is value that can be unlocked by growing penetration beyond urban areas. More gradual recoveries are also predicted for the transport and online travel sectors.