Forex crisis, financial squeeze to frustrate PC market in Nigeria, others next year
Indications have emerged, showing that earlier projected rise in Personal Computer and devices shipment to Middle East and Africa may not be the same for Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Turkey.
A new report released by IDC and signed by Fouad Charakla, senior research manager for client devices at IDC MEA says MEA PC market has been revised downwards owing to a range of factors that are expected to cause the regional PC market to decline over the coming two quarters.
Other factors fingered for the reversal of the projection include constriction of government initiatives caused by low crude oil prices. Such factors are expected to lead to project delays or even cancellations across the GCC, as well as in Nigeria and other African countries.”
However, the report sees marginal growth from 2018 and beyond, depending on each nation’s recovery rate from financial squeeze.
It would be recalled that after posting annual declines for six quarters in succession, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) PC market finally exited the third quarter of 2016 close to flat, with year-on-year growth of 0.4% based on shipments of 3 million units, according to global technology research and consulting firm International Data Corporation (IDC).
The IDC report noted that desktop shipments suffered a significant decline of 16.9% to total 1.1 million units, while notebooks shipments grew 14.5% to reach 1.9 million units.
Charakla was of the view that “The recovery witnessed in Turkey, the largest single market in the MEA region, was the biggest contributor towards this growth, due to unusually low shipments in Q3 2015 and a faster-than-expected recovery from the failed military coup”.
“At the same time, some recovery from instability in the North African markets, when compared to last year, also contributed towards PC shipment growth, while deliveries as part of large education deals in the UAE and Kenya were other notable market drivers.”
