European IT spend back on the increase

The European IT market has entered its first phase of recovery, according to analyst IDC Corp. It said technology spending in Western Europe will increase 4.4% in 2002, rising to 6.2% in 2003. That compares to an estimated growth rate of 3.4% in 2001.

The current weak outlook has been exacerbated by accounting scandals and a number of high-profile bankruptcy protection filings. However, these facts don't seem to have clouded the ever-optimistic analyst forecasts.

That said, IDC does caution that it may take up to six months for technology vendors to start feeling a sustained improvement in revenues. It will therefore take until early 2003 for the recovery to fully feed through into the marketplace, IDC predicted.

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