SIPRI: Increasing military spending deepens food crisis

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) announced its new report on global military expenditures and global aid titled "Increasing military expenditures in the grip of falling development aid".

The report warned that the gap between official development assistance and real humanitarian needs is growing dangerously as donor countries prioritize military spending.

The report stated that prioritizing military expenditures in the face of increasing geopolitical risks puts pressure on global humanitarian aid budgets, and that this situation is among the biggest factors deepening global insecurity, structural poverty and food crises.

According to the institute's data, global military expenditures broke a historical record last year, reaching 2.9 trillion dollars, 2.5 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

On the other hand, the report, based on data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), emphasized that official development assistance has decreased steadily since 2021.

Donor countries shift budget from humanitarian aid to defense industry

The SIPRI report stated that the main decline in development aid started in 2021, but this crisis was temporarily masked due to the intense aid provided to Ukraine after the Russia-Ukraine War and refugee hosting costs.

It was reported that donor countries made the biggest cuts in humanitarian budgets in the areas of economic infrastructure and health.

The report also included case studies for European countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom.

It was stated that governments presented cuts in humanitarian aid as a necessity to increase military budgets, but the amounts cut from aid were quite marginal compared to huge military expenditures.

Financing deficit could reach $179 billion in 2028

The SIPRI report estimated that global development and humanitarian aid needs could reach $326 billion by 2028, taking into account factors such as conflicts and natural disasters.

It was calculated that this would create a huge financing gap of $179 billion, which is even larger than the total aid commitments projected for 2028 alone.

The report pointed out that this aid gap could be completely closed with only a small portion of the additional resources transferred to military expenditures, and argued that military capacities alone cannot guarantee global security and that development aid should be seen as a complementary element of security.