Brexit hits global IT spending for 2016
Leave vote turns modest IT outlay growth into a decline
Brexit will cause worldwide IT spending to decline over the course of 2016, according to Gartner.
"The immediate impact of Brexit has caused modest growth in IT spending to turn negative for 2016," said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner.
"Without the UK, global IT spending growth would have been modestly positive at 0.2% in 2016, but with the UK included, IT spending is expected to decrease 0.3%. The immediate impact of the British pound will also cause the IT spending patterns to shift as prices for IT will increase."
Although it's good news for some countries in Europe, such as Germany and France, the UK won't be so lucky, with growth not reflecting the rest of the world.
"There are other countries, such as the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Ireland that are also increasing their IT spend to contend as a viable alternative to banks in the UK," Lovelock added. "We are seeing examples of many banks in talks with these countries to examine the possibility of moving their operations outside of the UK."
On a worldwide level, Gartner is predicting software spending will have the biggest impact on worldwide IT spending, with growth up by 6% by the end of the year globally. Over 2017, it will increase more - by 7.2% - over 2017, offering up an impressive rate of growth.
Worldwide IT spending will top 2.85 trillion in 2017 as demand for software and IT services spending increase across the board, the research firm said.
IT services will also see gains, up 3.9% in 2016 and then 4.8% in 2017, to reach a total value of $943 billion (768 billion).
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