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Jordan Defense Spending
Jordan's defense outlays have been burdensome for a small
country without major resources or a highly developed industrial
base. Offsetting this burden to some degree has been the positive
impact of defense spending on the national economy. Soldiers' pay,
the employment created by the military and security forces, and the
contracts and support services generated in the name of national
security provided important stimulation for what generally has been
regarded as a sluggish economy. The financial and military
subsidies that Jordan traditionally has received from other Arab
states have represented a net benefit to the economy while reducing
the actual burden of the military effort to somewhat less than it
appeared to be in statistical terms. Nevertheless, the Jordanian
defense effort was facing acute budgetary and financial
difficulties in the late 1980s, as a consequence of decreased
financial aid from the oil-producing Persian Gulf states and
reduced remittance levels from Jordanian workers in other Middle
Eastern countries. Together, these sources had brought in as much
as US$2.5 billion annually in earlier years. Although other Arab
states had pledged at the Baghdad Summit in 1978 to provide Jordan
with more than US$1.2 billion annually for ten years, only Saudi
Arabia had fulfilled its commitment
(see Jordan - GDP by Sector
, ch. 3;
Jordan - Military Relations with Other Countries
, this ch.).
The 1988 defense budget of JD256 million (US$763 million) was
about 60 percent higher than the allocation of a decade earlier.
When inflation was taken into account, however, officially
acknowledged defense costs appeared to have remained fairly steady
until 1986, when an upward trend became evident. Possible
explanations for this rise included moderate increases in the
number of men under arms, pay raises, some domestically absorbed
equipment outlays, sharp increases in the international price of
armaments, and a higher amortization level of foreign military
debt. Published government figures were incomplete since they did
not include important elements of defense spending and were
therefore understated. The United States Department of State
estimated that a little more than half of the subsidies from other
Arab states was reflected in the budget, with the remainder applied
to off-budget defense expenditures.
The military debt had become a serious problem by early 1989,
as the difficulties of meeting the kingdom's overall debt-servicing
obligations continued to mount, placing additional strains on the
balance of payments. It was reported that Jordan was running about
eleven months behind on its military debt payments, with more than
US$95 million overdue.
In 1988 the officially acknowledged defense budget constituted
15.4 percent of gross national product
(GNP--see Glossary). In a
comparative analysis by the United States Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency (ACDA) covering 1987 defense outlays, the
proportion of Jordan's GNP absorbed by defense in that year (13.9
percent) was near the average for the Middle East, which was 11
percent, and among the highest in the world, although below that of
Israel (16.6 percent of GNP). Nevertheless, defense expenditures as
a ratio of GNP have followed a declining trend from 35 percent in
the early 1970s to 20 percent in the early 1980s. According to the
same ACDA study, Jordan's defense expenditures in 1987 were 22
percent of total government expenditures, well below the Middle
East average of 32 percent. The portion of Jordan's government
spending devoted to the military also reflected a steady decline
during the 1970s and 1980s. Military expenditures of US$285 per
capita in 1987 were also lower than the average of US$396 per
capita for the Middle East as a whole. Jordan had one of the
highest proportions in the world of men under arms, with 36.4
uniformed personnel per 1,000 of population. Its ratio of armed
forces to population was exceeded only by such countries as Iraq,
Israel, Syria, and North Korea.
Data as of December 1989
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