Canada And Latin America IT Outlook: 2009 To 2010

The Canadian and Latin American IT markets are far smaller than the US market, will decline in 2009 to a much greater degree in dollar terms, and will lag behind the US tech recovery in 2010. Nonetheless, these markets are worth pursuing for IT vendors. From 2006 to 2008, many of these markets grew faster than the US IT market, whether measured in US dollars or local currencies (and, at least in local currencies, the declines in IT purchases in 2009 will be less dramatic than the US decline). Ironically, some of the most poorly managed economies in Latin America — Argentina and Venezuela — will have the best IT markets in the Americas in 2009. However, don't count on that to continue in 2010 or beyond. Canada will outpace the US market in 2010 in dollars. And Brazil — which has the largest indigenous IT market — has very good long-run opportunities for IT vendors, along with Mexico, Chile, and Colombia.