NZ ICT spend beats recession, up to $19.3bn

New Zealand computer and communication equipment buyers have not been put off by the recession, with new figures showing a 3 per cent rise in ICT sales during the 2008 financial year.Statistics NZ said this morning that $19.3 billion was spent on ICT during the 12 months, a similar growth rate seen in the previous year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10567562NZ ICT industry not slowing down
What global financial crisis? New Zealand’s information and communications technology industry continued to grow at the same pace in the 2008 financial year as the year before, according to the country’s official statistics organ.Total sales of ICT goods and services increased 3 per cent to NZ$19.3 billion in the 2008 financial year, Statistics New Zealand said in a statement issued this morning, noting that growth rate was similar to the 2007 figure.
www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/NZ-ICT-industry-not-slowing-down/0,139023166,339296030,00.htmNZ ICT industry continues to grow [news release]
Total sales of goods and services from New Zealand’s information and communication technology (ICT) industry increased 3 percent to $19.3 billion in the 2008 financial year, Statistics New Zealand said today. This was similar to the growth rate in sales of ICT goods and services reported the previous year.The top two commodities for ICT sales were telecommunication and program distribution services with $5,875 million and computer and related equipment with $3,465 million.Domestic sales of ICT goods and services increased 4 percent to $17.9 billion in 2008. Export sales of ICT goods and services decreased 8 percent to $1.4 billion. The ICT commodity with the largest export sales was electronic components with $281 million.The survey asked businesses in the ICT industry about barriers to their business growth. The most commonly reported barrier was strength of competition, reported by 29 percent of businesses in 2008. Strength of competition was also the most commonly reported barrier in 2007.
www.stats.govt.nz/products-and-services/media-releases/information-communication-technologies-supply-survey/information-and-communication-technology-supply-survey-2008-mr.htm