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individuals, representing 7.6 percent of total employment. During the same year, the
percentage of the population with at least 4G mobile coverage was remarkably high at
98.4%, while 5G mobile networks covered 82.4% (Department of Statistics Malaysia,
2025).
A diverse and well-prepared workforce is fundamental to Malaysia's economic
advancement. In the 2023 Global Talent Competitiveness Index, Malaysia secured the
42nd position out of 134 countries, scoring 51.35 points, which is above the average of
47.8. Within its region, Malaysia's ranking is notably higher than Thailand (79th), Vietnam
(75th), Indonesia (80th), and the Philippines (84th). In 2022, Malaysia's workforce with
high skill levels constituted 29.6% of total employment, significantly surpassing other
regional countries like Thailand (14.1%) and Vietnam (10.4%) (Lee, 2024).
Malaysia encounters compliance costs for cross-border digital trade that are 15%
higher than the Asia-Pacific average and 4% above the ASEAN average. According to the
RDTII 2025 score, its compliance costs surpass the Asia-Pacific average in several domains,
especially in regulations concerning NTMs (122%), public procurement (88%), and foreign
direct investment (67%). However, Malaysia benefits from lower compliance costs
compared to the Asia-Pacific region in terms of tariffs and trade defense (-79%), cross-
border data policies (-44%), and internet intermediary liability (-30%) (ESCAP and ASEAN
Secretariat, 2025a).
4. Policy implications for Vietnam
Vietnam has implemented various regulations to manage its digital economy. The
main document is Directive 16/CT-TTg, introduced in 2017 to further technological
progress in the industry. Resolution No. 52-NQ/TW, dated September 27, 2019, from the
Politburo, titled “On some guidelines and policies for proactively participating in the
Fourth Industrial Revolution”, identified the digital economy's development as a pillar, a
key task, and a strategic priority in the national digital transformation process for the
coming years. It also set a goal for Vietnam's digital economy to contribute 30% by 2030.
In 2020, Vietnam approved the National Digital Transformation Program by 2025, with a
vision for 2030. This program aims to achieve a dual objective: developing a digital
government, economy, and society while simultaneously nurturing Vietnamese digital
technology enterprises capable of global expansion (Vietnamplus, 2025). In 2022,
Vietnam issued Decision No.411/QD-TTg, supporting the national agenda to develop the
digital economy and society up to 2025, with a perspective towards 2030. This strategy
outlines 17 task groups and eight solution groups to seamlessly integrate digital
technology and data into all aspects of business production and daily life (Nguyen and
Truong, 2023). The government offers incentives for IT companies involved in producing
relevant IT products. Eligible IT firms can benefit from an income tax exemption lasting for
11 years and investment credits (Dezan Shira & Associates, 2022).
E-government has also become a major focus for Vietnam’s central government.
The digitalization of public service delivery, aimed at reducing transaction costs between
the government, businesses, and citizens, and utilizing cross-sectoral and cross-agency
data, provides significant advantages for the Vietnamese (Ministry of Science and
Technology, 2021).
As reported by the General Statistics Office, the digital economy experienced swift
and fairly balanced growth from 2021 to 2025, particularly following the implementation
of Resolution 57, which focused on advancements in science, technology, innovation, and
national digital transformation. The contribution of the digital economy to GDP rose from

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