Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): The Gulf House for Studies and Publishing issued a special report on military spending in Bahrain, in which it addressed the volume of spending based on 5 indicators, namely the percentage of military expenditures to GDP, military expenditures per capita, percentage of military expenditures to total expenditures, percentage of military expenditures to oil revenues and percentage of military expenditures to the fiscal deficit.

Relation of Military Spending to GDP

According to the study, Bahrain's military expenditures in 2020 amounted to 4.1% of GDP, increasing 0.8% from the previous year, while over the past seven years there has been no decline.

The study indicated that although this percentage appears to be low in comparison to other Gulf countries, it is twice the global average of 2.3%, which is equivalent to the rate of spending in the United States of America and Russia, and is twice the rate of spending in France, Britain and China, and three times the rate of spending in Germany and Spain.

Military Spending Per Capita

According to official figures, Bahrain's military spending for 2020 was $1.405 million, and by calculating Bahrain's population, which is 1.7 million, the military spending per capita was $826, equivalent to British military spending, and exceeding French and German military spending, and four times the military spending in Iran.

Relation of Military Expenditures to Total Expenditures (Expenses)

Military spending in Bahrain accounts for 14.6% of total expenditures, Oman exceeds 20.4%, and Qatar and Saudi Arabia are at 21.7%. 

Kuwait's military spending is only 9.6% of total expenditures, UAE 13.4%, Morocco 11.5% and Egypt only 4.1% of total state expenditures.

Relation of Military Expenditure to Oil Revenues

According to official figures, Bahrain spends about 34.4% of oil revenues on military spending, a similar percentage to the rest of the GCC countries, but the study indicates that Bahrain is the only country that imports oil products in comparison with other Gulf states. In 2020, Saudi Arabia imported $2.7 billion of oil products, exporting only $5.9 billion, which means Bahrain's net oil revenues were only $3.2 billion, which means that 43.7% of net oil revenues went to military spending, which is a significant figure.

Relation of Military Spending to Budget Deficit

The study indicates that Bahraini military expenditures account for 43.9% of the fiscal deficit, while in Kuwait it does not exceed 14.8%. In Oman, 64.1% of the fiscal deficit goes to military spending, while Saudi military spending exceeds the fiscal deficit.

At the end of its study, the Gulf House recommends cutting military expenditures and sees this as possible for several reasons. It says that reducing military spending will save BD 541 million for the budget, which can be spent on three items:First: Increase the monetary reserves of the Central Bank of Bahrain by 15%

Second: Increase the funds allocated to the Ministries of Health and Education, and increase direct government support by 15%

Third: Increase the allocations granted to government investments by 100% to reach 600 million dinars, while giving priority to the industrial sector.

Arabic Version