PH Digital Economy Posts 16% Increase, One of Fastest Growths in Southeast Asia

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The Philippine digital economy has recorded a 16% year-on-year increase with a projection to reach $36 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) by the end of 2025, data from the 10th edition of the e-Conomy SEA 2025 Report, “From Digital Decade to AI Reality: Accelerating the Future in ASEAN,” of Google, Temasek and Bain & Company showed.

PH Digital Economy Experiences Growth

Based on the report, the major digital economy pillars of the Philippines are experiencing double-digit growth.

• Transport and Food Delivery: +20%, leading the Southeast Asian region.
• Digital Payments: +20%, second place in the region next to Indonesia.
• Video Commerce: +35%
  • Fashion and Accessories: +28%
  • Beauty and Personal Care: +23%

Meanwhile, the country’s GMV represents more than 60% of its total market.

“This momentum is not a temporary spike; it is a sustained, systemic transformation, which is a convergence of innovative platforms, a tech-positive regulatory environment, and our uniquely AI-curious Filipino consumers with real spending power.”

Prep Palacios, Country Manager, Google Philippines

The Adoption of AI

Moreover, the report highlighted the rapid adoption of AI use in the Philippines, being listed in the top 20 countries with high interest in multimodal AI—solutions capable of processing text, images, audio, and video.

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The researchers shared that 78% of Filipinos are using AI tools for their daily tasks, with almost half of the respondents saying they save time in research and comparison because of AI use.

Filipinos enrolling in generative AI courses also increased by 4.8 times this year, second to Vietnam. The report then emphasized that 77% of Filipino workers have already taken steps to learn and utilize AI tools.

Lastly, speaking about concerns on the potential risks of AI tools to data privacy, the report said that 94% of Filipinos expressed willingness to share data access, which includes browsing behavior and social connections, with AI agents

“With digital adoption accelerating nationwide, the real story is that our digital economy is becoming truly ubiquitous. The imperative now is to strategically leverage this momentum so that more Filipinos are equipped to benefit from AI.”

Prep Palacios, Country Manager, Google Philippines

Digital Payment Initiatives in PH

In 2024, the Bangko Sental ng Pilipinas reported that 57.4% in terms of volume and 59.0% in value were done in digital payments

Government payments were the most digitalized, with 97.2% of transactions processed electronically’ while person-to-everyone payments followed at 72.2% by volume and 80.4% by value, and business-related payments reached 19.8% by volume and 38.6% by value.

Worth Reading: The Future is Cashless? 6 of 10 Retail Payments in 2024 are Digital: BSP Data

Recently, former senator and boxing champion Manny Pacquiao launched “Manny Pay,” a new financial app aiming to capture a share of the country’s competitive digital payments market.

The app is reportedly focused on targeting businesses of all sizes, offering corporate services such as “Mass Payout” solutions, “Recurring payments” handling, and “Online Collections.”

Worth Reading: Pacquiao Launches Manny Pay to Disrupt PH Digital Payments

Meanwhile, in October 2025, local cryptocurrency exchange Coins.ph introduced “Coins Webpay,” a new online payment solution designed to help merchants accept payments from customers through their websites or mobile apps.

Worth Reading: Coins.ph Launches ‘Coins Webpay’ to Help Merchants Accept Online Payments

Coins.ph also has a partnership with Ronin Wallet, which is a popular web3 wallet for crypto game Axie Infinity, that will soon allow users to be able to pay for everyday goods and services in the Philippines by scanning QRPh codes,.

Worth Reading: Ronin Wallet to Enable QRPh Payments via PHPC Stablecoin in Coins.ph Tie-up

This article is published on BitPinas: PH Digital Economy Posts 16% Increase, One of Fastest Growths in Southeast Asia

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