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Egypt was world’s fourth largest arms buyer in 2015

June 14, 2016 at 11:46 am

Egypt was the world’s fourth largest purchaser of weapons in 2015, a new report revealed on Sunday.

The Global Defence Trade Report said the arms trade was worth $65 billion in 2015, up $6.6 billion from the previous year, the largest annual increase in a decade.

Bloomberg reported that Egypt spent $2.3 billion on arms in 2015. Prior to the coup in 2013, the country spent less than $1 billion on weapons annually.

Saudi Arabia was found to be the biggest spender where arms were concerned. Its purchases jumped 50 per cent to $9.3 billion. The increase was reportedly linked to the formation of a coalition to fight the Houthis in Yemen.

Saudi purchases included Eurofighter Typhoon jets, F-15 warplanes and Apache helicopters, as well as precision-guided weapons, drones and surveillance equipment.

The report said that the United States is the world’s largest exporter of weapons, raking in $23 billion in 2015, $8.8 billion from the Middle East alone. Russian came in second.

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