RIYADH: A surge in weapons purchases by Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nations fighting in Yemen, helped push global arms sales up more than 10 percent last year, according to an annual report.
The world defense market climbed to $65 billion in 2015, up by $6.6 billion from 2014, the consulting company IHS Inc. said in its Global Defence Trade Report published Sunday. That’s the largest yearly increase in the past decade, according to the Englewood, Colorado-based company. While Saudi purchases jumped about 50 percent to $9.3 billion, growth was seen across much of the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
As middle-income countries see increases in their gross domestic product, they have more “relative resources” to spend on military equipment, according to Ben Moores, a senior defense analyst at IHS Aerospace, Defence & Security who wrote the report. The study examined trends in the global defense market across 65 countries.
The boost in Saudi weapons imports came as the kingdom led a coalition targeting Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen and as it works to counter its regional rival Iran. Saudi Arabia’s purchases in the past year include Eurofighter Typhoon jets, F-15 warplanes and Apache helicopters, as well as precision-guided weapons, drones and surveillance equipment, Moores said.
Egypt, whose economy has struggled since the 2011 ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak, became the world’s fourth-biggest weapons importer, spending almost $2.3 billion, according to the report. Before 2013, the country spent $1 billion or less annually, but “there’s been this ramp-up,” Moores said, adding that IHS research indicates the higher spending is being underwritten by Egyptian allies France and Gulf Arab states.
Iraq spent almost as much as Egypt as it shifts money from operations and personnel toward procurement, IHS said. The country is battling Islamic State militants in long-troubled Anbar province and is preparing for the eventual battle to retake the northern city of Mosul.
