Global defence spending reaches a whopping US$1.57 trillion

London

ESCALATION of global terrorism, security fears, persistent Middle Eastern wars and military expansionism have raised global defence spending to a fearsome US$1.57 trillion.

The latest annual Jane's Defence Budgets Report calculates that global defence expenditure on weapons, security and other equipment rose by only one per cent in the past year; but Fenella McGerty, a Jane's analyst, forecasts steeper growth in the next decade.