Saudi Arabia's military expenditure surpasses Russia, world's 3rd
Tehran (KNA) - Having trapped itself in a deadly war against the people of Yemen over the past years, Saudi Arabia has surpassed Russia to become the world's third largest military spender.
The oil-rich kingdom increased its spending to $69.2 billion in 2017, up 9.2 percent from the previous year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a new report Wednesday.
This is 10 percent of the country's GDP.This puts the Riyadh regime higher on the list than Russia ($66.3bn), France ($57.7bn), India ($63.9bn) and the UK ($47.1bn), according to the report.
As expected, the United States topped the list with $609.7 billion, followed by China at $228.2 billion.SIPRI analysts warned that the increase in military expenditure by countries like Saudi Arabia was not a good sign.
Source: PressTV