Spending declines across hardware, software, IT services and telecoms will lead to worldwide spending falling 6pc from US$3.4trn last year to US$3.2trn this year, according to Gartner.
Continued weak IT spending because of the economic situation, combined with the effect of exchange rate movements, has resulted in Gartner lowering its 2009 forecast from its Q1 projection when it had forecast 2009 worldwide IT spending to decline 3.8pc.
“While the global economic downturn shows signs of easing, this year IT budgets are still being cut and consumers will need a lot more persuading before they can feel confident enough to loosen their purse strings,” said Richard Gordon, research vice-president and head of global forecasting at Gartner.
“The forecast decline in spending growth for the hardware and software segments in 2009 has almost stabilised, and only minor downward revisions have been made to these forecasts this quarter.
“However, the full impact of the global recession on the IT services and telecommunications sectors is still emerging, and forecast growth in these areas has been further reduced significantly.
“Moreover, the rise in the value of the US dollar against most currencies in recent months will have a material downward impact on 2009 global IT spending growth, which by convention we report based on US dollars,” Gordon added.
All four major segments of IT — hardware, software, IT services and telecommunications — will experience declining revenue, something that did not happen in the 2001 downturn.
The computing hardware segment will experience the steepest decline in 2009, with spending projected to decline 16.3pc. The software segment will show the slightest decrease in 2009, with spending forecast to drop 1.6pc.
By John Kennedy
