Monday, April 11, 2011

Who had the biggest Arm's buying increase Last Year? South America, Africa, UK

Sharp rise in arms spending by South America and Africa
arms fair in London
An anti-aircraft missile system on display at an international arms fair in London.
 
Global spending on arms amounts to more than $1.6tn (£0.96tn), with South American and Africa accounting for the biggest increases last year, albeit from a relatively low base, according to figures released by a leading weapons trade research institute.
Although military spending fell throughout Europe, Britain was third in the world league, after the US and China. The UK spent nearly £36.6bn on arms last year, an increase of nearly 30% over the past decade, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). Saudi Arabia, one of Britain's main markets for weapons, spent more than £27.4bn, a 63% rise over the past 10 years, the institute says.
The US was largely responsible for a real terms 1.3% increase last year – more than $20bn – but spending by South America, with the exception of Venezuela, and Africa rose by more than 5%.
"This continuing increase in South America is surprising given the lack of real military threats to most states and the existence of more pressing social needs," said Carina Solmirano, the institute's Latin American expert.
South America spent more than $63bn on arms last year, a figure that is more than twice the rate of increase in arms spending by countries in the Middle East. But governments in the Middle East spent $111bn on weapons last year, says the report released on Monday.
The US has increased its military expenditure by more than 80% over the past decade, spending nearly $700bn last year. Although the increase in its military budget has slowed down, the US continues to be an "exceptional" case, the institute says.
As well as being overwhelmingly the largest spender in absolute terms, with 43% of the global total, six times its nearest rival China, the US has led the way in the global increase since 2001, with an 81% rise in real terms compared with 32.5% in the rest of the world, the report says.
It adds: "Moreover, the share of US GDP [gross domestic product] devoted to the military – the "military burden" – has increased sharply, from 3.1% in 2001 to an estimated 4.8% in 2010, while in the majority of other countries worldwide the military burden has fallen or remained steady. Of those countries for which Sipri has reliable data, the USA is likely to have had the highest military burden outside the Middle East in 2010, based on IMF projections for GDP."
The report continues: "Even in the face of efforts to bring down the soaring US budget deficit, military spending continues to receive privileged treatment. President Obama's [fiscal year] 2012 budget announced a five-year freeze on non-security-related discretionary expenditure, but military spending, along with other security spending such as intelligence and Homeland Security, is exempt. Such cuts as may occur are likely to be due to the end of the US troop presence in Iraq and the gradual drawdown from Afghanistan … taken together, these figures suggest that the USA continues to prioritise maintaining its overwhelming military power as the basis of its security and status."
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