Tech markets looking to return to normalcy in 2022: Forrester

As vaccination rates hit high numbers across Asia Pacific (APAC) and Covid case numbers drop, the technology markets are predicted to settle down according to a new Forrester report.

The Forrester report, Asia Pacific Tech Market Outlook By Country For 2021 And 2022 highlighted that the pandemic will not be seen “as the main culprit” to be the biggest risk to growth. The report said supply chain bottlenecks and persistently high inflation could limit consumer spending and enterprise investments.

For this year, technology spending growth will reach or slightly exceed the average growth levels recorded from 2015 to 2019, according to the report’s authors. This means technology markets are most likely going to settle.

Forrester estimates that the overall APAC tech market grew by 6.4 percent in 2021 in constant currency, but with significant variation throughout the region. Growth in US dollar terms was 9.4 percent as most APAC currencies strengthened against the dollar.

According to the report, tech spending in countries like Australia and Singapore, with relatively low infection rates and successful vaccination campaigns, rebounded strongly after a gloomy 2020.

“Successful pandemic management strategies and the ability of a large percentage of the workforce to work remotely helped these economies rebound strongly from the 2020 crisis,” the report said.

However, those countries with lower vaccination rates, did not see growth like the vaccinated countries.

“In 2021, countries with lower vaccination rates and less digitalised economies saw only modest growth. As the pandemic eases, mature APAC markets will grow at or slightly above their potential; others will continue to accelerate out of the crisis,” the authors said.

According to the Forrester report, China’s largely restriction-free domestic economy and strengthening exports pushed its 2021 economic growth to 8 percent.

For most of the year, technology markets in these countries rebounded from their depressed 2020 levels; 2021 growth was 2.6 percent in Japan, 4.6 percent in South Korea, 6.5 percent in Australia, and 9.7 percent in China — all above their respective tech spending compound annual growth rates (CAGR) from 2015 to 2019.