IDC – Middle-East & Africa’s Blockchain Spending to Increase 400% by 2023

The exponential rise in blockchain technology adoption across the globe has encouraged MEA (Middle East and Africa) countries to increase spending on the tech in the forthcoming years.

As per a new document published by the US based market study firm International Data Corporation (IDC), governments in the MEA region will increase their spending on blockchain based system by 400% in the next four years.

The IDC document, published on February 12, underlines the fact that blockchain technology is gaining inroads in digital transformation efforts in the MEA region.

In particular, MEA nations are anticipated to boost their blockchain spending to roughly $105 million by 2023, from $21 million last year, representing a compounded yearly growth rate of about 50%.

As per the report, the MEA authorities are fully involved in building blockchain based systems to minimize fraud, boost safety and enhance public management.

Jyoti Lalchandani, vice president and regional managing director at the IDC’s division for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, stressed that governments in the MEA region are confronting difficult task of getting acquainted with a fresh set of technologies such as blockchain. Lalchandani also pointed out that several governmental frameworks are not ready for digital reformation.

“Governments across the region are under mounting pressure to become both more efficient and more effective. However, this is proving to be a troublesome task as many government organizations are simply not prepared for digital redesign. Whether it’s finding ways to integrate 5G, AI, and blockchain or protect against intrusions on digital trust, government agencies have a whole new set of IT skills to learn.”

Even though blockchain is being increasingly looked at by MEA nations, spending on the technology still represents only a minute portion of the total digital reformation efforts. As per the IDC, overall, the MEA nations expended a total $12.80 billion last year on digital reformation, and are anticipated to surpass the $15 billion level by 2023.

IDC has been consistently revising blockchain capital allocation forecasts as the industry continues to grow. The research institution had earlier forecast that worldwide blockchain spending would reach roughly $3 billion in 2019, reflecting 89% increase from 2018. The organization also predicted that the figure would rise to about $16 billion in 2023.

The MEA region is anticipated to record a considerably increase in blockchain spending. Likewise, Asia-Pacific region, barring Japan (APEJ) are forecast to set aside at least $105 million in the forthcoming years. IDC has also forecast that APEJ will expend nearly $2.40 billion for blockchain implementation by 2022.