EITO Worldwide IT expenditure increases by 4.3% in 2011
- High growth rates in emerging markets
- Germany boosts the European IT market
- Japan suffering from the effects of the natural disaster
Worldwide IT expenditure is set to increase in the current year by 4.3% to 963.4 billion euros. This figure is reported by the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO) market research institute on the basis of the latest forecasts. In 2012, according to EITO, the IT market will grow by 5.4% and thus break the sales barrier of one trillion euros for the first time. The IT market encompasses expenditure for computers and other IT hardware as well as for software and IT services. “Neither the earthquake in Japan nor the political unrest in various parts of the world are affecting worldwide IT demand significantly”, said EITO Chairman Bruno Lamborghini. “The prospects for the global IT market are good.” The requirement for increasing growth in 2012 is, however, that industrialised countries such as the U.S., Great Britain and Spain overcome the consequences of the financial crisis.
The current drivers of the global IT market are the major emerging countries China, Russia, India and Brazil, achieving double-digit growth rates in some cases. “These up-and-coming national economies have come out of the economic crisis very quickly and are now investing heavily in modern technologies”, said Lamborghini. According to EITO, sales for IT in China are set to increase in 2011 by 11.3% to 55 billion euros. In both Russia and India, the market is growing by 14.5% and by 8.7% in Brazil.
In the U.S. and a number of Western European countries, however, the after-effects of the financial and economic crisis are still having a tangible impact on the economy. “In Great Britain, Spain, Greece and Ireland, due to the high levels of national debt, IT investments in the public sector are subdued and consumer spending is down”, said Lamborghini. Within the European Union, the growth rate is 2.9% to 312 billion euros. Germany has bucked the trend with regard to this development and, by recording an increase of 4.3% in 2011, lies significantly above the EU average. The U.S. market is growing by 3.9%.
For Japan, on account of the consequences of the natural disaster, EITO is revising its growth forecasts downwards to minus 1.2% in 2011. Prior to this, a slight increase in sales had been expected. It is to be expected that the government and business will initially invest in reconstructing buildings and infrastructure. What is more, consumer confidence has been affected negatively. Nevertheless, the consequences of the disaster are regionally restricted. Lamborghini: “The situation in Japan has led to a disruption in the global supply chain in the manufacture of high-tech products. This does not affect the IT market on a global scale, however, since customers can switch to alternative products if individual goods are in short supply.”