Europe still trailing in IT spending rebound

Western Europe is lagging behind the rest of the world in recovering from the economic crisis, according to new figures from Gartner.

The analyst firm predicts that IT spending in 2010 will drop by 3.3 per cent in western Europe and by 2.1 per cent in EMEA.

The drop was blamed in large part on debt fears in the European Union. Analysts believe that corporations are holding back on IT spending in order to avoid debt issues, which will continue to slow growth over the coming years.

"This decline in IT spending in 2010 is placing EMEA as the slowest region to fully overcome the downturn," said Gartner senior vice president and global head of research Peter Sondergaard.

"We expect western Europe to record the worst decline in EMEA in 2010, and experience the slowest long-term growth rate with a compound annual growth rate of 0.8 per cent through 2014."

However, Gartner forecasts spending growth in the hardware market. Sales will hit $79.4bn (£49.2bn) on the year, an increase of 4.6 per cent from 2009.

"We are seeing a rise in shipments across hardware due to the low volumes in 2009 and organisations gradually returning their replacement cycles to a normal length," said Sondergaard.

Research firm iSuppli issued a similar forecast last week, predicting steady growth for the PC hardware sales market this year.

Meanwhile, the IT services sector is predicted to be the hardest hit by the downturn. Analysts have forecasted a 5.6 per cent drop on the year for the EMEA region.