The outlook for global spending on information technology is gloomier than previously expected, according to Forrester Research.

Spending on information technology goods and services will decline 10.6 percent this year, said the Cambridge, Massachusetts, research firm in a report on Tuesday. That decline forecast is 3.5 times higher than the 3 percent it had previously announced.

“Large declines in business technology investment during the first quarter prompted Forrester to update its forecasts for technology spending,” the researcher said in a statement.

Computer equipment purchases are now expected to decline 13.5 percent compared with last year, while communications equipment is predicted to drop 12.4 percent. Spending on software will drop 8.2 percent while spending on information technology consulting and outsourcing services will fall by 8.6 percent, Forrester said. 

In the United States, Forrester expects a 5.1 percent drop instead of the 3.1 percent estimated earlier. But a turnaround isn't too far away, according to the research firm, which expects "growth in U.S. IT investment to resume in fourth-quarter 2009, and 2010 is expected to bring a revival of IT buying in other markets as well."