Military Expenditure, Arms Imports and Third World Debt During the 1980s

Abstract

One of the ‘costs’ of military imports and military expenditures by developing countries occurs to the extent that these are financed by incurring foreign debt. This article estimates that, for 61 severely and moderately indebted developing countries, military imports during the 1980s were equivalent to about 28% of new foreign debt incurred. When military expenditures as a whole are examined, the proportion is around 77%. Had these countries made no military expenditures during the 1980s, they could have borrowed very little and/or allocated far more of the borrowed resources to productive purposes, thus making future debt servicing burdens much lighter and/or easier to meet.