Kazakhstan cuts military expenditures in 2015 - Stockholm think tank
ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Military expenditures in Kazakhstan fell in 2015 and totaled $1.9 billion, compared to $2.4 billion in 2014, according to new figures from Geneva-based think tank - the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
SIPRI said Tuesday that cuts in military spending in Kazakhstan and other oil revenue-dependent countries, such as Angola, Chad, Ecuador, Oman, South Sudan and Venezuela were due to sharp fall oil prices.
However, according to SIPRI, other oil revenue-dependent countries, namely Algeria, Azerbaijan, Russia and Saudi Arabia, on the contrary, increased spending.
The U.S. traditionally claimed the top spot of the rankings after spending $596 billion on military sector in 2015. Four other biggest spenders in 2015 were China ($215 billion), Saudi Arabia ($87.2 billion), Russia ($66.4 billion) and the UK ($55.5 billion). It is worth mentioning that Saudi Arabia overtook Russia to become the world's largest spender, mainly due to the fall in the value of the ruble.
India, France, Japan, Germany and South Korea made it into the top 10 countries with the highest military expenditures in 2015.
World military expenditure reached almost $1.7 billion in 2015, increasing by 1 per cent since 2014.
By Tatyana Kudrenok