Worldwide IT spending will increase at a 10% compound annual growth rate to $2.62 trillion in 2002, according to market research firm Killen & Associates. Bob Goodwin, senior VP at Killen, said that the continuing economic and currency crisis in Asia, unresolved bank debt problems in Japan, Russian economic collapse and the August-September stock market slide will combine to keep global IT market growth close to 8& in 1998. But higher growth should resume in 1999. Killen said the fundamental forces driving the computer equipment. Software and services industries were very strong and were being reinforced by the huge one-time investments required to fix the Y2K programming bug and to implement the Euro currency in 1999.