This was an increase from RM68.3 billion or 5.9% of GDP in 2015.

Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ahmad Maslan said the government had set up a National E-Commerce Strategic Plan 2016-2020 to ensure the sector continued to progress.

“The plan projects to double the rate of e-commerce growth in Malaysia to 20.8% by 2020 from 10.8% in 2016.

“This growth rate will contribute over RM211 billion in value to the GDP compared with the initial target set under the 11th Malaysia Plan of RM114 billion,” he told the Dewan Rakyat here today.

Ahmad said this in reply to a question by Rubiah Wang (Kota Samarahan-BN), who had asked the ministry to state the strategy to ensure the country’s e-commerce sector would continue to grow and the performance level of the sector so far.

According to Ahmad, among the government’s initiatives to promote e-commerce growth were the launch of the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) last year to increase the involvement of more entrepreneurs in global e-commerce transactions.

“Since the launch of DFTZ, 2,072 businesses have registered to take the opportunity to export their products through the Alibaba platform,” he said.