Despite “Corona”; Italian newspaper: global arms spending rises to $2 trillion

A Swedish institute showed in a report recorded the highest rise in global military spending since 1988, worth $1,981 billion in 2020, an increase of 2.6% compared to 2019.

“Military spending of nearly $2 trillion, at a rate of $252 per person, according to an April 26, 2021 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, he regularly reported on military spending at the end of April”.

According to the “Stockholm Institute” report, global military spending for the top five countries was 62%, according to the Stockholm Institute report, the countries are the United States of America, China, India, Russia, and the United Kingdom, which came as a surprise by removing Saudi Arabia from fifth place.

The newspaper pointed out that this increase in global spending, occurred in a year when global GDP fell by 4.4%, according to IMF projections.

This decline is largely justified by the economic effects of the CORONA outbreak, as a result, military spending as a percentage of GDP has reached a global rate, 2.4% in 2020, compared to 2.2% in 2019.

The newspaper confirmed that “the annual increase in military spending is the largest since the global financial and economic crisis in 2009”.

The institute's researcher, “Diego López da Silva”, explained: “we can say with certainty that the epidemic did not have much impact on global military spending in 2020”.

“It is too early to talk about whether countries will maintain this level of military spending in the second year of the epidemic”, he said.

 

U.S. Hegemony

The report showed that the top 15 countries spent $1,603 billion in 2020, representing only 81% of global spending.

The United States of America ranks first with approximately 40% of military expenditures, equivalent to nearly $778 billion, an increase of 4.4% compared to 2019, this is equivalent to the total expenditures of the 12 countries that follow in the rankings.

For the third consecutive year, the United States maintained increased expenditures in the defense sector, this follows seven years of sustained reductions.

According to the Stockholm Institute, increases justify strong investment in research and development, in addition to many long-term projects, related to the modernization of the nuclear arsenal and large-scale armament.

“This rise reflects growing concern about threats posed by strategic adversaries such as China and Russia, in addition to the desire of the administration of (former U.S. President Donald Trump) to strengthen an exhausted U.S. army”.

The Italian newspaper noted that “the spending of all the top 15 countries (excluding the United States, Britain and Italy) increased compared to 10 years ago”.

China came in second place with $252 billion in military expenditures in 2020, an increase of 1.9% compared to 2019, it also continued economic growth for the 26th consecutive year.

NATO and Italy

The newspaper reported that almost all NATO member states recorded an increase in their military investment during 2020, twelve NATO members spent 2% or more of their GDP on their armies, which is NATO’s spending target, nine countries achieved this goal in 2019.

France, the eighth largest investor in the world, crossed the 2% barrier for the first time since 2009, while Italian military spending did not reach 2% of GDP, it stopped at 1.6%, but recorded the highest growth rate among the top 15 countries in the rankings, from $26.8 billion in 2019 to $28.9 billion in 2020, that's an increase of 7.5%, and spending is likely to grow further in 2021.

Most global military spending is concentrated in two of the five continents: the Americas (43 percent). Asia and Oceania (27%), Europe (19%), while Africa contributes the smallest share (2.2%).

 

Second growth

Military spending on the African continent was estimated at $ 43.2 billion in 2020, an increase of 5.1% compared to 2019, an increase of 11% over 2011, and this is the second consecutive major growth over the past five years.

The increase in 2020 is mainly due to increased spending in North Africa, which grew by 6.4%, equivalent to 24.7 billion dollars.

The Italian newspaper confirmed that “this figure does not accurately reflect the volume of spending for the region”, especially since the institute does not add the numbers of Egypt (classified as a Middle Eastern country) to the area numbers, which in 2020 increased its military budget by 7.3%.

Overall, military spending in North Africa has grown by 42 percent over the decade, Algeria remains the "main investor" in the entire continent with $ 9.7 billion, although a decrease of 3.4% compared to 2019, due to the "Corona" pandemic and declining oil revenues, in 2020, Morocco's military spending reached $ 4.8 billion, an increase of 29% compared to the previous year, and 54% compared to 2011.

The newspaper indicated that there are several factors behind this rise, most notably, Morocco embarked on a massive arms program (which began in 2017), in addition to the continuing conflict with the "Polisario" front in the Sahara region, and tensions with neighboring Algeria.

In sub-Saharan Africa, Ugandan spending figures attract attention, in 2020, it witnessed an increase in military spending by 46%, it is the largest percentage increase in the world.

Kampala raised its defense budget to $ 985 million, justified by the permanent struggle against the group of the Allied Democratic Forces, however it still ranks fifth in the ranking of sub-Saharan countries in terms of military spending.

South Africa ranks first with 3.2 billion, followed by Nigeria with 2.6 billion, a growth of 29% compared to 2019, in view of its war against "Boko Haram" and other armed groups, which has been a constant challenge for Abuja in the past decade, according to the Italian newspaper.

In contrast, military spending in Angola decreased ($ 994 million by -12%), and Sudan (934 million, a decrease of -37%), overall, military spending in sub-Saharan Africa amounted to $ 18.5 billion, an increase of 3.4% compared to 2019, however, it decreased by 13% from 2011.