The Digital Economy in Singapore

The digital economy broadly encompasses the production and consumption of digital products and services, digital platforms and business activities that are enabled by digital technologies. This may include activities as ubiquitous as sending emails to more sophisticated ones such as big data analytics. In recent years, the digital economy has garnered the attention of policymakers globally, which is not surprising given that the adoption of digital technologies offers significant potential to empower individuals, transform industries and enhance the competitiveness of economies. In view of its rising prominence, it is important for policymakers to gain a better understanding of the development and contribution of the digital economy.

In this article, we examine the recent trends in, and contribution of, the digital economy in Singapore. We do so by (i) presenting the broad trends in digital adoption among households and enterprises; (ii) estimating the economic contribution of the industries that produce or enable digital goods and services; and (iii) deriving the value that cross-border data flows bring to our economy.

Singapore has made significant progress in its digital infrastructure, which has enabled the increased adoption of digital capabilities among households and enterprises

Singapore has significantly enhanced its digital infrastructure in recent years, most notably through the introduction of optical fibre and 4G networks, which has in turn dramatically increased the speed at which information is transmitted. For instance, following the roll-out of the optical fibre network, Singapore’s average internet connection speed increased from 5.4 Megabits per second (Mbps) in 2012 to 20 Mbps in 2016, comparable to that in Japan and Finland. Likewise, Singapore’s 4G connection speed is one of the fastest in the world, in part due to continued network investments.

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