Military expenditure worldwide rose to almost $2 trillion in 2020, defying the financial affect of the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers stated Monday.
Global army spending elevated by 2.6 p.c to $1,981 billion (about 1,650 billion euros) in 2020, when international GDP shrank 4.4 p.c, in response to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Diego Lopes da Silva, one among report’s authors, informed AFP the event was surprising.
“Because of the pandemic, one would assume army spending would lower,” he said.
“But it’s possible to conclude with some certainty that Covid-19 did not have a significant impact on global military spending, in 2020 at least,” Lopes da Silva stated.
He cautioned nonetheless that as a result of nature of army spending, it may take time for international locations “to adapt to the shock”.
The fact that military spending continued to increase in a year with an economic downturn meant the “military burden”, or the share of army spending out of complete GDP, had elevated as properly.
The general share rose from 2.2 p.c to 2.4 p.c, the most important year-on-year enhance for the reason that monetary disaster of 2009.
As a outcome, extra NATO members hit the Alliance’s guideline goal of spending at the very least two p.c of GDP on their army, with 12 international locations doing so in 2020 in comparison with 9 in 2019.
– Some Covid results –
There have been nonetheless indications the pandemic had affected some international locations.
Nations corresponding to Chile and South Korea brazenly determined to reappropriate army funds in response to the pandemic.
“Other international locations, corresponding to Brazil and Russia, didn’t explicitly say this was reallocated due to the pandemic, however they’ve spent significantly lower than their authentic funds for 2020,” Lopes da Silva said.
Another response, as in Hungary for example, was to increase military spending “as part of a stimulus package in response to the pandemic”.
Lopes da Silva famous  many international locations responded to the 2008-2009 financial disaster by adopting austerity measures, however “this time round it won’t be the case”.
The world’s two biggest spenders by far were the US and China, with Washington accounting for 39 percent of overall expenditure and Beijing for 13 percent.
China’s military spending has risen in tandem with its growing economy and has seen an increase for 26 consecutive years, reaching an estimated $252 billion in 2020.
The US also increased its spending for the third year in a row in 2020, after seven years of reductions.
“This reflects growing concerns over perceived threats from strategic competitors such as China and Russia, as well as the Trump administration’s drive to bolster what it saw as a depleted US military,” Alexandra Marksteiner, one other creator of the report, stated in an announcement.
Lopes da Silva nonetheless famous that the brand new “Biden administration has not given any indications that it’ll scale back army spending.”
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