War in Ukraine sparks record rise in global military spending

2023-04-28 01:55:09

Mine warning signs are becoming more and more common in Ukraine due to the war. The country is now one of the most heavily mine-contaminated in the world, depriving children of safe spaces and putting their lives at risk.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 24 2023 (IPS) – The United Nations has warned that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 threatens to plunge 1.7 billion people into poverty, destitution and hunger, more than a fifth of them. of humanity.

Long before the war, the Ukraine and Russia supplied about 30 percent of the world’s wheat and barley, a fifth of its corn, and more than half its sunflower oil. But the war, now going on for 14 months, has sapped and cut off most of these supplies.

Taken together, the UN noted, its grain was an essential source of food for some of the poorest and most vulnerable people, providing more than a third of the wheat imported by the 45 least developed countries (WFP), the majority African, described as “the poorest of the poor in the world”.

At the same time, Russia was the world’s leading exporter of natural gas and the second of oil.

The negative consequences of the war and the increase in arms spending are a blessing in disguise for American and Western arms suppliers.

The United States alone has provided Ukraine with some $113 billion in weapons, economic and humanitarian aid, and security assistance, and there is no end in sight, either to the war or to arms aid.

As a result of the war, global military spending hit a new record, according to a report by the Stockholm International Institute for Peace Studies (Sipri, in English).

The study, published this Monday, April 24, affirms that total world military spending grew for the eighth consecutive year in 2022. There was an increase of 3.7% in real terms last year, which translated into a new maximum of 2.24 trillion (million million) dollars.

By far the largest increase in spending (+13%) was in Europe and was largely driven by Russian and Ukrainian spending. However, military aid to Ukraine and concerns about the increased Russian threat strongly influenced the spending decisions of many other states, as did tensions in East Asia.

Military spending in Europe, a new battleground since World War II, registers the biggest year-on-year increase in at least 30 years.

The three countries that will spend the most in 2022 (the United States, China and Russia) represent 56% of the world total.

All three, along with the UK and France, are permanent veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, who are expected to uphold one of the fundamental principles of the UN Charter: maintaining international peace and security. .

The United States remains by far the country that spends the most on weapons in the world. US military spending reached $877 billion in 2022, accounting for 39% of total global military spending and three times the amount of China, the second largest spender.

According to the Sipri study, the real increase of 0.7% in US spending in 2022 would have been even higher had it not been for the highest inflation levels since 1981.

Nan Tian, ​​senior researcher at Sipri’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program, stated that “the continuous increase in global military spending in recent years is a sign that we live in an increasingly insecure world.”

According to the specialist, States are reinforcing their military forces in response to the deterioration of the security environment, which they do not expect to improve in the near future.

Ukraine’s military spending reached $44 billion in 2022. With a 640% increase, this is the largest increase in military spending by a country in a single year ever recorded in Sipri data.

As a result of this increase and the damage caused by the war to the Ukrainian economy, the military burden (military spending as a percentage of GDP) skyrocketed to 34% of gross domestic product in 2022, from 3.2% in 2021, according to the study of Sipri.

“The invasion of Ukraine had an immediate impact on military spending decisions in Central and Western Europe. This included multi-year plans to increase spending by various governments,” said Diego Lopes da Silva, Senior Researcher at Sipri’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program.

As a result, we can reasonably expect military spending in Western and Central Europe to continue to skyrocket in the coming years.

Some of the largest increases were recorded in Finland (+36%), Lithuania (+27%), Sweden (+12%) and Poland (+11%).

“Although the full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022 has undoubtedly affected military spending decisions in 2022, concerns about Russian aggression have been growing for much longer,” said Lorenzo Scarazzato, a researcher at the same spending program. .

Many former Eastern Bloc states have more than doubled their military spending since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, while Russia and Ukraine have increased their military spending as the war continues.

It is estimated that Russian military spending grew by 9.2% in 2022, to about $86.4 billion. This is equivalent to 4.1% of Russia’s GDP in 2022, up from 3.7% of GDP in 2021.

Figures released by Russia at the end of 2022 show that national defense spending, the largest component of Russian military spending, was already 34% higher, in nominal terms, than in budget plans drawn up in 2021.

“The difference between Russia’s budget plans and its actual military spending in 2022 suggests that the invasion of Ukraine has cost Russia much more than anticipated,” said Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, director of the Military Spending and Arms Production Program. of the Sipri.

Ukraine’s military spending reached $44 billion in 2022. With 640% growth, this is the largest single-year increase in military spending by a country ever recorded in Sipri data.

As a consequence of this increase and the damage caused by the war to the Ukrainian economy, the military burden (military spending as a percentage of GDP) skyrocketed to 34% of GDP in 2022, from 3.2% in 2021.

Other notable facts, according to SIPRI, are:

* The increase in real terms in global military spending in 2022 was slowed by the effects of inflation, which in many countries soared to levels not seen in decades. In nominal terms (that is, at current prices without adjusting for inflation), the world total increased 6.5%.

* India’s military spending, at $81.4 billion, was the fourth highest in the world and 6.0% higher than in 2021.

* In 2022, military spending in Saudi Arabia, the fifth largest military spending country, increased by 16% to an estimated $75 billion, its first increase since 2018.

* Nigeria’s military spending fell 38% to $3.1bn, after a 56% increase in 2021.

* The military spending of NATO members amounted to 1,232,000 million dollars in 2022, 0.9% more than in 2021.

* The UK had the highest military spending in Central and Western Europe at $68.5 billion, of which an estimated $2.5 billion (3.6%) was military aid to Ukraine.

* In 2022, Turkey’s military spending decreased for the third year in a row, reaching $10.6 billion, 26% less than in 2021.

* Ethiopia’s military spending increased 88% in 2022, to reach $1 billion. The increase coincided with a renewed government offensive against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in the north of the country.

T: MF / ED: EG

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*Correspondent-chief of the United Nations Office and Regional Director of IPS North America. A former deputy editor of the Sri Lanka Daily News, he was a senior editorial writer at The Standard in Hong Kong. Former Director of Foreign Military Markets at Defense Marketing Services (DMS); Senior Defense Analyst at Forecast International; and Middle East/Africa military editor at Jane’s Information Group.