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US is again ranked world’s biggest military spender despite 6% decline

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 16, 2013 8:11AM GMT

The United States has again ranked by far the world’s largest military spender while the troop drawdown from its Afghan war is being cited in a report as contributing to a rare drop in global military spending.

The US still accounted for 39 percent of global military spending, much more than any other country in the world, although its recent budget cuts and withdraw of troops from Afghanistan was credited for a 6-percent decline in American military expenditures compared to the previous year, according to the latest report on global military spending, released Monday by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

While reporting the first annual drop in more than a decade in 2012 global military spending, the report underlines that military spending across the world is still higher, in real terms, than its peak at the end of the Cold War due to massive investments by the US and its allies in the arms industries.

According to the report, while military spending dropped last year in the US and throughout Western and Central Europe, it climbed in Russia, China, the Middle East and North Africa.

SIPRI said military expenditure in western and central Europe declined by 1.6 percent, adding that Russia’s bid to modernize its weapon systems contributed to a 16-percent surge in its 2012 military spending.

China’s military budget, meanwhile, climbed by nearly 8 percent, a figure identical to the rise in arms spending in the Middle East and North Africa.

The Persian Gulf country of Oman was further cited as showing the largest hike in its annual military spending, registering a 51-percent increase, according to the report.

This is while the US-backed Arab states in the Persian Gulf have often been sited as among the biggest purchases of American weaponary.

Moreover, Latin America’s military spending also increased by 4 percent while Asia and Oceania registered a 3-percent rise in armament expenditures.

According to the SIPRI report, however, overall military spending across the globe fell by 0.5 percent in 2012.

It further notes that the latest figures include spending on armed forces, peacekeepers, defense ministries, paramilitary forces and military space activities.

MFB/MFB