The economy is expected to make a more significant recovery in 2011, with GDP growth accelerating to 3.7%, owing to higher domestic and global demand. The infrastructure development programs undertaken by the South African government are expected to drive the growth, as is the emergence of a larger middle class due to the government's black economic empowerment (BEE) program.

"IT spending in the government sector in South Africa is expected to show steady positive growth over the 2011–2015 period," says Research Analyst Jebin George for IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. "Achieving operational efficiency, better service provisioning, and lower costs through automation will be key priorities for the sector in 2011."

South Africa still has a long way to go in terms of creating a sophisticated egovernment infrastructure. The 2010 United Nations eGovernment Development Index ranks it 97th out of 190 states, with an index value of 0.4306, behind the world average of 0.4406. However, South Africa's government expenditure stood at 53.1% of GDP in 2010, which was on par with advanced economies, and was even higher than the European Union average of 50.7%.

According to IDC Government Insights, the South African economy will continue to expand steadily over the coming years, registering an average of 4% growth per annum between 2011 and 2015. Virtualization, security, and data management technologies are expected to be the key IT investment areas during that period.

IDC's Government Insights Technology Selection: South Africa Public Sector Insights and 2011–2015 IT Spending Forecast provides an overview of the South African government sector and its requirements in terms of IT. In addition, it provides a detailed overview of IT spending trends and forecasts for South Africa's government sector and nine product and service categories over the forecast period.

For information on purchasing this document or for details about any other IDC research in the MEA region, please contact Karan Dixit (kdixit@idc.com, +971 4 364 2006).