IT analyst house Gartner Inc has slashed its global tech spending forecast for next year to growth of just 2.3 per cent.

The research outfit was forced to significantly downgrade its previous 5.8 per cent growth prediction for 2009 because of the financial storm currently thundering across the world’s economy markets.

"Developed economies, especially the United States and Western Europe, will be the worst affected, but emerging regions will not be immune," said Gartner's senior veep and head of research Peter Sondergaard.

However, the analyst firm remains optimistic about its full year outlook for 2008, which it doesn’t think will change dramatically despite the fourth quarter taking a hammering from the ongoing economic turmoil.

Hardware will take the biggest hit, said Gartner, with overall sales dipping four per cent next year.

It predicts the IT service sector will be flat in 2009, telecoms will modestly grow 3.9 per cent, while software will rise 8.6 per cent, down from a 13.5 per cent revenue increase this year.

Tech spending in North America will climb a meagre 0.5 per cent compared to a previous forecast of 5.3 per cent growth, according to Gartner.

Western Europe IT spending will drop 0.8 per cent. The firm had previously forecast spending to grow 2.8 per cent in the region.

Meanwhile, the Asia Pacific will see an IT spending increase of 8.3 per cent, down from an 11 per cent growth prediction. ®

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