During The Pandemic Period, Indonesia Ruled The Internet Economy Sector In Southeast Asia

Illustrated (Image Credit: Oleg Magni / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The corona pandemic is a challenge for business and industry players throughout 2020. Even so, Indonesia's internet economy or digital economy has been able to survive and record positive growth in several sectors.

Based on the e-Conomy SEA report compiled by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company throughout 2020. It shows that Indonesia remains the largest internet economy market in Southeast Asia, with a value reaching 124 billion US dollars or around IDR 1,762 trillion by 2025.

"In Southeast Asia, Indonesia is still the largest digital economy country and the growth rate is still 11 percent double digit, even though it is currently a pandemic, at 44 billion US dollars," said Managing Director of Google Indonesia, Randy Jusuf in a virtual media crew meeting, Tuesday. November 24th.

He explained that during the pandemic, which made many people choose to stay at home and avoid crowds, actually had an impact on the increase in the internet economy in Indonesia. Where there is digital acceleration from new internet users who continue to use digital services during the pandemic.

One sector of the internet economy that grew rapidly during the pandemic was e-commerce, up 54 percent to 32 billion US dollars, from only 21 billion US in 2019. The growth of e-commerce in Indonesia was caused by people trying to sell online due to the pandemic. .

"The steady growth of the internet economy like this is also happening in Southeast Asia. It was found that the digital economy in this region is growing faster due to the pandemic, reaching 100 billion US dollars this year and will exceed 300 billion US dollars by 2025," said Randy.

Randy also said that more than a third of digital service consumers in Southeast Asia started using online services because of COVID-19. With the average online time per day during the pandemic was recorded to increase, from 3.6 hours to 4.7 hours during periods of self-quarantine or large-scale social distancing (PSBB).

Google illustrations (pixabay)

Meanwhile, other online media sectors that also recorded positive growth were gaming and streaming services. It was recorded that the two services increased by 24 percent over the previous year, thus contributing to growth in Indonesia's internet economy.

"Indonesia remains the largest internet economy market in Southeast Asia and a major competitive ground for technology platforms. Therefore, they are very much prepared to be the main driver of digital innovation in the region," he explained.

It is not only the e-commerce and online media sectors that are expected to continue to grow. Other sectors of the digital economy recorded positive growth, such as online transportation, health services and education.

"COVID-19 has changed the way of life for many people in Southeast Asia, and the development of the digital financial services sector, HealthTech and EdTech is needed to adapt to changes taking place in society," said Partner and Leader of Southeast Asia Private Equity Practice at Bain & Company, Alessandro Cannarsi.

Although it is too early to claim the results of this report, Alessandro predicts that the growth and acceleration of the internet economy will continue in this sector in the next few years.