Bangalore: In 2012 worldwide IT spending is expected to reach $3.7 trillion that is an increase of 2.5 percent from previous year according to a forecast by technology researcher Gartner. However 2.5 percent increase is lower than its previous forecast of 3.7 per cent growth for 2012.

Gartner said that the reason behind lower growth rate is the recent strengthening in the value of the US dollar against other currencies. When the analysts looked at worldwide IT spending in constant U.S. dollars, the  IT spending rate was actually up by  5.2 percent this year, compared with a previous forecast for a 4.6 percent increase.

"Despite ongoing concerns about the global economic recovery-most notably around the resolution of eurozone sovereign-debt problems, worries about the potential for China's real estate 'bubble' to spill over and affect the rest of the economy, and rising oil prices-early signs in 2012 suggest that the global economic outlook has brightened a little," said Richard Gordon, research vice president at Gartner. “So, the global macroeconomic picture looks a little brighter, as reflected on Wall Street, which is feeding through to more confidence among consumer and enterprises to spend on IT products and services, ” added Gordon, reports eweek.com

The worldwide telecom equipment market is one of the strongest areas of growth. Driven from demand for mobile devices and faster networking, the telecom equipment market is expected to reach $472 billion in 2012, a 6.9 per cent increase from 2011.

The small and medium sized businesses, which represent approximately a quarter of all enterprise IT spending is also expected to be up, particularly in the area of enterprise software, the  spending is forecast to reach $874 billion in 2012 and will grow to $1 trillion by 2016.