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Governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are expected to spend a total of $13.3 billion on IT this year, up by 1.8 percent from last year, according to Gartner.
The bulk of government budgets will go to telecom services, estimated to be worth $3.9 billion, followed by IT services ($3.13 billion) and software ($2.56 billion).
Digitalisation efforts are expected to drive growth in overall spending, with governments looking to optimise and modernise business processes and services.
“MENA governments will continue to increase their spending towards digitalization efforts in 2022,” said Apeksha Kaushik, Principal Analyst at Gartner.
Across the world, IT spending is forecast to reach $565.7 billion this year, an increase of 5 percent from 2021. Spending is expected to increase across all segments except internal services and telecom services.
The strongest growth will be recorded in the software segment of the market, as “legacy modernisation” remains a priority for governments.
“The last few years of enduring pandemic challenges have mobilised a wave of digital transformation activities in government organisations across the world,” noted Daniel Snyder, Director Analyst at Gartner.
“Governments are executing innovative activities by harnessing technology to streamline digital services, advance automation processes and evolve citizen experiences.”
(Reporting by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
