Contrary to international trends, Mexico increases its spending on the military: World Bank.

• Funds for education and health have stagnated in the last ten years.
• This increase is a burden on the economy and could impede economic growth, the organization warns.

La Jornada
October 17th, 1999
Roberto González Amador

In various reports the World Bank has revealed that, contrary to the worldwide trend, during the last decade the Mexican government doubled its spending to maintain the country's military apparatus, at the same time adding 35 thousand enlistees to its ranks. However, during the same period, the government kept its spending on education and health at a virtual standstill.

"Although national defense is an important function of government and security against external threats contributes to economic development, the increases of spending on defense is a burden for the economy and can impede [economic] growth," the organization signaled.

In the documents titled "Indicators of International Development for 1999," the institution revealed that, in one decade, the Mexican government doubled its spending on defense, a designation which does not include spending destined for the government entities responsible for order and public security.

The report details the variance in governments' spending on defense and the arms industry, country by country, during the last decade. All of the cases cited information corresponding to the period between 1985 and 1995, with the goal of creating a homologous index capable of creating country by country comparisons.

In Mexico's case, the report indicated an increase in military spending from 2.6 to 5.1 percent of the government's total spending. In terms of Gross National Product (GNP), the defense budget increased from 0.7 to 1.0 percent during the same period.

At the same time, the number of enlisted men in the armed forces grew from 140,000 members in 1985 to 175,000 in 1995, one year after the public appearance of an insurgent group in the state of Chiapas.

According to information from the Secretary of the Business and Public Credit, the total budget for the Secretaries of Defense and the Marines for this year is 23.2 billion pesos (2.5 billion US dollars). This expenditure does not include spending on other areas of national security.

As indicated by the World Bank's report, the number of troops enrolled in the armed forces represents 0.5 percent of the Mexico's total work force.

In its "Report on International Development 1999/2000," the World Bank indicated that, while the Mexican government has doubled its expenditure of public funds to sustain the military apparatus, the government's budget for education has been held at a virtual standstill. In 1980, 4.7 percent of the GNP was destined for education. In 1996, education was provided a similar amount, 4.9 percent of the GNP.

The increase in eduacational spending in Mexico was significantly less than the reported worldwide mean. In 1980, educational spending in the planet represented 4 percent of the world's GNP while, in 1996, that figure had grown to 4.8 percent.

With regard to public spending on health, Mexico spent 2.8 percent of its GNP.

According to the World Bank's report, on an international level, the average governmental expenditure on health is 2.5 of its GNP.

The World Bank's information reveals that the increase in Mexico's military spending, both in relation to the country's GNP and its federal budget, marks a tendency running contrary to the trend observed internationally during the last decade.

In 1985, military spending of all countries in the world equaled 5.2 percent of the world's GNP while, in the last 10 years, that figure has diminished to 2.8 percent of the world's GNP, according to the World Bank.

At the same time, viewed in terms of a percentage of a government's total budget, military spending diminished globally from 18.1 percent in 1985 to 9.9 percent in 1995.

According to the World Bank, with regard to Latin America's GNP during the last 10 years, Argentina's military spending diminished from 3.8 to 1.7 percent, Brazil's rose from 0.8 percent to 1.7 percent, Chile's decreased from 4.0 to 3.8 percent and Columbia's military spending was augmented from 1.6 to 2.6 percent.

Translated by Noah Arthur Bardach