War on Yemen Costs Saudi More than $5bn!
Local Editor
Saudi Arabia said that the increase in the kingdom’s military spending in 2015 was almost entirely due to its aggression against Yemen as Riyadh struggles with a rising annual budget deficit.
In the context, Economy Minister Adel Fakih said Monday that Saudi Arabia’s expenditure in 2015 increased by 13 percent to hit 260 billion USD, adding that about 5.3 billion USD of that figure was in military and security, which he attributed to the war on Yemen.
However, Riyadh has been resisting calls for disclosing the costs of the war, which largely consists of airstrikes ever since launching its attacks on the impoverished country on March 26, 2015.
More than 7,500 people have been killed in Yemen over the past months. Ironically, Riyadh claims that the campaign was meant to undermine the Ansarullah revolutionary movement and restore power to the fugitive former president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Nevertheless, the United Nations reports mentioned that more than 2,500 of the fatalities were civilians.
In a similar context, "Reuters" news agency estimated earlier this year that Saudi Arabia would spend some USD 175 million per month to support its campaign, adding that a further USD 500 million would be allocated to a potential ground invasion.
In parallel, the significant increase in the military spending came against the backdrop of falling oil prices in the international markets which has badly affected Saudi Arabia as the country relies on oil for roughly 90 percent of its revenue.
Relatively, the Saudi economy minister posted a 98-billion-dollar budget deficit for 2015, adding that the kingdom will be facing a deficit of USD 87 billion for the next year.
Consequently, to make up for the heavy expenditures of the war on Yemen and its rising deficits, Riyadh adopted a series of austerity measures at home by increasing the cost of fuel and some services up to 80 percent. That measure triggered a nationwide dissatisfaction with many urging the rulers to stop the aggression against Yemen in order to avoid further economic woes.
A budget plan released by the Saudi Finance Ministry on Monday stated that Riyadh is to allocate 57 billion USD to the military and security services in 2016, roughly a quarter of the kingdom’s total budget.
