Recovery from the pandemic is on the way across the globe and several industries, including online services, present opportunities in the post coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) era, according to an economist.

David Sit, assistant principal economist at Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), said ecommerce, ehealthcare, and different sorts of digital services like efinancial services will thrive even after the pandemic.

Citing data, Sit said the global smart healthcare market could grow by US$224.86 billion in five years until 2024.

He said multiple new sectors under smart healthcare that have yet to develop include telemedicine, healthcare management platform, smart medical device, and assistive robotics.

“For online education, (it) is just a beginning,” he said in a webinar. Sit said some adoption of education technology during lockdown could be increased, such as analytics and AI-assisted grading.

He added that the market size in Asia Pacific for online education is expected to grow to over US$90 billion by 2026 from US$35 billion in 2019.

Sit further said recovery is on the way but uneven between and within countries with high uncertainties due to resurgence of Covid-19.

He said recovery differs depending on the implementation of pandemic control and vaccination programs, economic structure, and policy support.

Meanwhile, Sit expects the consumer markets along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries to grow by 50 percent of the global consumer market.

“So that would be opportunities for businesses participating,” he said.

China’s BRI aims to bolster connectivity in Asia, Africa, and Europe through trade and investments in infrastructure