By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
BERLIN (IDN) – New data launched by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that sales of arms and military services by the world’s largest arms-producing companies, which amounted to $395 billion in 2012, has increased by 29 per cent in real terms since 2003. But compared to 2011 the 2012 data represent a 4.2 per cent decrease in real terms and follow a 6.6 per cent cut in that year.
The report released at the Munich Security Conference on January 31, 2014 points out at the same time that the decrease in arms sales in 2012 was not uniform: “while sales by companies in the United States, Canada and most West European countries continued to fall, arms sales by Russian companies increased sharply, by 28 per cent in real terms”.