STAMFORD, CT — Worldwide vertical market IT spending is projected to rise 0.5% year-over-year to $2.7 trillion in 2009, according to Gartner, Inc. Utilities, healthcare and government are expected to be the strongest-growing segments of the market .

The firm blames the worldwide economic slowdown for the tepid growth. Says John-David Lovelock, research vice president for Gartner, “Internal spending, hardware and system integration in the financial sector were particularly hard-hit in 2008 and will continue suffering through 2009.”

The utilities industry is forecast to grow the most in 2009 - 2.9%. Smart grids and energy supplies are viewed as national and strategic issues in many countries, and spending on IT is a necessity. The healthcare industry is expected to post the second-highest increase,  at 2.2%. Countries in which healthcare is primarily publicly funded will be sheltered from the worst of the economic turmoil, and governments tend to keep healthcare funding at least stable during the worst economic conditions, Gartner says.

Uncertainty about the depth and duration of the economic slowdown dominated the banking and investment sector in the last quarter of 2008. This uncertainty led to declines and postponements in IT spending at many large financial services companies, and this is expected to continue in 2009 as worldwide financial services IT spending is forecast to decline 0.7%. The US financial services sector is forecast to be hardest hit, however, major IT investments in less-affected countries such as Canada and Mexico and regions such as the Middle East and Africa will minimize the decline in the sector worldwide.