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Portugal Defense Expenditures
The Portuguese defense budget was 197.5 billion escudos
(US$1.25 billion) in 1989, 219.1 billion escudos (US$1.54
billion) in 1990, and 206.8 billion escudos (US$1.73
billion) in
1991. Over the period 1978-89, the defense budget
increased by an
average of 1.9 percent annually in real terms. According
to a
survey by the United States Arms Control and Disarmament
Agency
(ACDA), which applied certain adjustments to the official
figures
for defense, Portuguese military expenditures rose in real
terms
from US$1.189 billion in 1979 to US$1.457 billion in 1989
(both
amounts in constant 1989 dollars).
Portugal's defense outlays were the lowest in NATO with
the
exception of Luxembourg (Iceland has no military forces).
In
terms of defense expenditures per capita, Portugal was the
lowest
in NATO (US$141 in 1989) with the exception of Turkey.
However,
in terms of the share of gross national product
(GNP--see Glossary)
allotted to defense, most NATO countries spent
less
than Portugal. Portugal's expenditures on its military
establishment had risen from 4.5 percent of GNP in 1960 to
8.3
percent of GNP during the course of the colonial wars. In
the
1980s, defense expenditures averaged 3.43 percent of GNP.
Defense
outlays, which had constituted 26.7 percent of the
national
budget in 1960, rose to nearly 46 percent of the budget
during
the peak of the overseas wars in 1971. By 1977 defense
expenditures had declined to 10 percent of central
government
expenditures, and they remained below 10 percent
throughout the
1980s.
In 1988 expenditures were allocated among the services
on the
following basis: army, 36.9 percent; navy, 30.6 percent;
air
force, 22.3 percent; and general staff, 10.1 percent. The
largest
expenditure category was personnel (64.5 percent), among
the
highest in NATO and exceeded only by Belgium and
Luxembourg. The
principal cause was the fact that the rapid decline in
total
staff was not matched by a decline in the officer roster.
Moreover, pension payments to demobilized personnel were a
significant cost factor. Of the service branches, the army
was
burdened with the highest outlay for personnel, amounting
to 80
percent of its budget. This outlay was attributable in
part to
the large number of officers on active duty in excess of
the
army's requirements. By comparison, 60 percent of the
navy's
budget was absorbed by personnel expenses. Portugal's
outlays on
major equipment items as a share of the defense budget
(13.4
percent) were among the lowest in NATO, as well.
Data as of January 1993
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