The Macedonian IT market has declined by 12.9% to $143.2m last year, according to a report by market research company IDC.

Macedonia IT Market 2010-2014 Forecast and 2009 Vendor Shares report details the IT market in Macedonia and forecasts total IT expenditures by technology through 2015.

The study involves market size, vendor market shares, and growth projections for hardware and packaged software shipments, as well as for the provision of IT services.

IDC notes the country’s economy has begun to recover from the economic crisis, with GDP, exports, and FDI all growing in 2010, which would put the local IT market back on a growth curve.

Though the country’s IT market has felt the effects of the global recession in 2010, with slight impact on revenues in 2009, the study projects that the government’s anti-recession measures and IT initiatives and projects will help the local IT market rebound in this year and recover fully in 2012.

The study reveals the divergent technology trends in the Macedonian IT market; spending on hardware declined in 2010 for the third year in a row, while investments into software grew for the fourth consecutive year.

IT services reported its first decline, and hardware shipment sales in the country fell more than 20% in 2010, while PC shipments declined to 40.8% and IT services procurement declined 5.2%.

By contrast, packaged software sales rose 8%, and the telecom vertical and home segment reported IT spending growth in 2010.

IDC noted that IT spending in Macedonian market contracted faster than the market average in 2010, where IT spending per capita is $70, which is the fourth highest per capita spending level in the Adriatic region, though 8.1% of the EU average.

The research firm forecasts total IT spending in Macedonia will increase to 7.6% in this year or at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.7% to reach $227.53m by 2015.