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That same year, global exports of digitally deliverable services totalled USD 4.5 trillion. Such services can be delivered remotely over computer networks. Some examples include information technology consulting, creative industries, telecommunications and financial services.
While digital technologies have the potential to transform global services trade, their benefits remain unevenly distributed.
UNCTAD data show that while digitally deliverable services account for 56% of services exports worldwide, that share is just 20% in least developed countries (LDCs).
Despite a 43% increase between 2015 and 2023 in value terms, LDCs’ share of global digitally deliverable services exports steadily fell from 0.24% to 0.19%.
“The decline reflects not only persistent challenges facing LDCs related to infrastructure, digital skills gap and restricted markets access, but also systemic inequalities that continue to stymie progress,” says Torbjorn Fredriksson, head of the ecommerce and digital economy programme at UN Trade and Development. Without targeted interventions, the digital economy risks entrenching existing inequalities rather than alleviating them.”
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As part of its broader work to foster inclusive digital trade, UNCTAD supports the development of international guidelines to quantify ecommerce, aimed at helping inform evidence-based policymaking, particularly in developing countries.The fifth meeting of the organisation’s working group on measuring ecommerce and the digital economy, set for 11 and 12 December, will continue advancing global cooperation to better measure digital trade.
The two-day event will bring together international organizations, researchers, businesses and civil society representatives. Discussions will centre around capacity building and ways to enhance the availability, quality, comparability, usability and relevance of digital trade statistics.
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