The above signal was highlighted in an article, themed "Thriving spring for ASEAN's digital economy", written by Amanda Murphy, Head of Commercial Banking for South and Southeast Asia, HSBC and Ahmed Yeganeh, Head of Wholesale Banking, HSBC Viet Nam.

The bank said Viet Nam was the fastest growing digital economy in ASEAN in 2022 and 2023 and it is expected to maintain this position until 2025, with the number of smartphones users anticipated to reach 67.3 million by 2026, accounting for 96.9 percent Internet users.

The growth of the digital economy in Viet Nam continues to impress. Last year, it contributed up to 16.5 percent to the country's GDP, with over 1,500 Vietnamese digital technology enterprises gaining revenues from foreign markets, an increase of more than 7 percent compared to 2022.

In a recent survey, 60 percent of businesses operating in Viet Nam responded that they plan to invest in technology and digitalization of their existing business, with the focus on digital payments, e-commerce, AI.

Those companies believe that adopting and enhancing digital services will help them meet customers' expectations for digital convenience and improve efficiencies.

According to the article, Southeast Asia remains home to the world's fastest-growing digital economy: the region's digital economy expanded by 12 percent last year and is expected to record a compound annual growth rate of 16 percent until 2030, reaching to almost US$1 trillion value by that year.

This potential is partly driven by ASEAN's growing population of 700 million, gathering a large portion of young, educated and tech-savvy people as well as growing middle-class consumers.

In a recent HSBC survey of businesses operating in ASEAN, 74 percent of whom intend to increase their investment in the region in 2024.

The acceleration of digitalization in the region has been boosted by Government programs, from Singapore to Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia.

A new US$1.3 billion government fund was unveiled during an ASEAN-Australia summit in Melbourne early March, providing loans, guarantees, equity and insurance for projects that will boost the ASEAN-Australia corridor.