Military expenditure at its highest level

1.82 trillion US dollars were spent last year on military purposes worldwide. This is the highest level since the end of the Cold War.
The result, says SIPRI Director Aude Fleurant, did not surprise her. “This was indicated by the international constellations, by the crises in many regions of the world. At the same time, many states are modernising their arsenal of weapons. This increases the cost of new weapon systems and global warfare.”
Not surprisingly, the USA is once again at the top by far. Last year, Americans spent $ 649 billion on their military. This top position is not only due to the trump effect, says Fleurant. Trump’s modernisation efforts have, of course, contributed to the high expenditure, but: “Some plans go back to the period before Donald Trump and were made by the Obama administration. In addition, of course, the many modernisations that have recently been decided play a major role in the growth of expenditure.” It is now much about development costs for new systems.
In second place is China with $ 250 billion. According to Fleurant, the Chinese would always adhere to the policy of not spending more than two per cent of the gross national product on military purposes. “If there is strong growth in China, military spending will rise accordingly – and vice versa.”
Saudi Arabia, India and France follow in the ranking of global military expenditure. Germany is in eighth place with $ 49.5 billion. According to SIPRI, German military expenditure rose by nine per cent between 2009 and 2018. The SIPRI Director is not too optimistic about the future. “There are so many conflicts in the world, dangerous conflicts. The growth in military expenditure will certainly continue.”    •

Source: <link https: www.tagesschau.de ausland ruestungsausgaben-sipri-101.html>www.tagesschau.de/ausland/ruestungsausgaben-sipri-101.html  from 29 April

(Translation Current Concerns)

The globally active development and relief agency of the Protestant Churches in Germany “Bread for the World” criticises high military expenditure
“Bread for the World“ has sharply criticised the federal government in view of rising military expenditure. “The states leading the world ranking in military expenditure today should finally change course and spend more money on development cooperation, prevention and dealing with the causes of violent conflicts,“ Martina Fischer of the Protestant relief agency told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung“.
“Bread for the World“ reacted to the report of the peace research institute SIPRI, which was published in Stockholm. Therefore, global military expenditure reached a peak in 2018. According to the Institute, the states invested a total of 1822 billion US dollars (about 1635 billion euros) in their armed forces last year. This is the highest level since 1988 and an increase of 2.6 per cent compared to 2017.
According to SIPRI figures, Germany ranks eighth in the international comparison of military expenditure. Higher military expenditure does not make the world a safer place, Ms Fischer of “Brot für die Welt” (Bread for the World) added. If the Federal Government wants to meet its own requirements, “much more must be invested in civil crisis prevention and peacebuilding than in the military sector“.
While the Federal Chancellery and the Ministry of Defence have announced that German military expenditure will continue to rise until 2024, from 1.24 per cent to 1.5 per cent of economic output, the German government has decreed a zero round for development finance in its benchmarks for the 2020 budget, Fischer criticised. If the medium-term financial planning is implemented, the share of development and humanitarian aid expenditure in German economic output will fall in the following years, the “Brot für die Welt” advisor warned.
Fischer continued: “Germany will not meet its commitment to provide 0.7 per cent for development. Here, completely wrong political priorities are being set in favour of the military sector“

Source: <link https: www.ekd.de brot-fuer-die-welt-kritik-militaerausgaben-45663.htm>www.ekd.de/brot-fuer-die-welt-kritik-militaerausgaben-45663.htm  from 29 April 2019