IT spending in Kosovo continued to grow solidly last year, primarily due to several large projects. According to a recent IDC research report, the IT market in Kosovo totaled $98.23 million in 2008, representing year-on-year growth of 15.3% in U.S. dollars. Measured in local currency, the market expanded 7.8% over 2007, which was also a strong year. The telecomunications, government, banking, and utilities verticals remained the key markets driving Kosovo IT spending in 2008.

“IT spending in the country stemmed mainly from two large projects that started in 2007 – the second phase of an infrastructure and services upgrade project for mobile operator iPKO, and large IT procurements by the EU mission in Kosovo,” says Boris Zitnik, managing director IDC Adriatics. “The global economic and financial crisis will only mildly affected the country’s IT market in 2009, with a slight year-on-year decline mainly due to strong results in the previous year. Some year-on-year increase in IT spending will be evident in 2010, accelerating to double-digit growth in the following three years. Kosovo is poised to invest in IT in a number of areas, such as the tax and tariff systems, the land registry, the judical system, healthcare and education, etc.”, says Zitnik.

IT services provision expanded 22.2% year on year in Kosovo last year, while packaged software shipments grew 9.2%. Hardcopy peripherals showed the steepest growth – 57.6% in volume and 133.7% in value. Hardware accounted for 73.9% of overall IT spending, IT services for 13.7%, and packaged software for the remaining 12.4%. The high share of HW spending indicates that that Kosovo is in the early stages of its informatization.

IDC expects the Kosovo IT market to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1% over the next five years, to reach $144.84 million in 2013.

IDC’s Kosovo IT Market 2009-2013 Forecast and 2008 Vendor Shares (IDC # ESQ16R9) presents the IT market in Kosovo and forecasts total IT expenditure by technology through 2013. The study contains market size information, vendor market shares, and growth projections for hardware and packaged software shipments, and IT services provision. It analyzes market trends and provides valuable insight into the main drivers of individual market segments.