European IT budgets are continuing to grow despite economic turmoil, according to a survey of more than 1,000 chief information officers by Gartner.

Gartner expected to see the greatest degree of caution over budgets in the first three months of 2008, said analyst Mark McDonald. “The first quarter should be the toughest in terms of budget changes as executives are cautious at the start of the year.”

But its poll of 1,011 CIOs taken during that period showed that business confidence in IT remains in tact.

"Overall, the majority of CIOs reported no change in their 2008 committed budget," said McDonald.

Nevertheless, McDonlad added that previous rounds of cost-cutting may have already trimmed all the fat from IT operations. "IT budgets are not the target rich environment for cost cutting they have been in the past."

In Europe IT budgets are set to grow by 3.86 per cent, a slower rate than Asia’s 5.98 per cent, but significantly faster than the growth in the US.

Overall Gartner expects US IT budgets to grow in 2008, but notes a slowing growth rate from 3.1 per cent to 2.3 per cent.