Armed forces spend on personnel, but investment in national defense falls.
The projected military spending for Bolsonaro's first year in office anticipates an increase in personnel expenses, but a significant drop in investment in national defense itself, such as the acquisition of equipment for the Armed Forces. This represents the lowest expenditure on national defense in ten years.
247 - The projected military spending for Bolsonaro's first year in office anticipates an increase in personnel expenses, but a significant drop in investment in national defense itself, such as the acquisition of equipment for the Armed Forces. This represents the lowest expenditure on national defense in ten years.
The Ministry of Defense states that the increase in personnel costs reflects the Armed Forces' salary recovery plan approved in 2016. The last installment of the four adjustments took effect in January.
A report by Igor Gielow and Gustavo Patu in the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper analyzes the historical series using the Siga Brasil budget monitoring tool from the Senate. For this year, the Ministry of Defense, still under the Michel Temer (MDB) administration, planned to spend R$ 104,2 billion, the fourth largest amount in the Esplanade of Ministries. Of this amount, R$ 81,1 billion will go to personnel, R$ 13,3 billion to current expenses (operating costs), and R$ 9,8 billion to investments. These figures do not include the R$ 5,1 billion contingency in the last two items, which may be reversed throughout the year.
"If the Armed Forces had a larger share of GDP, and 2% is the volume considered adequate for spending according to NATO standards (the Western military alliance), there would be a greater allocation of resources for projects and the proportion of spending on personnel would be lower," the Ministry of Defense stated in a note.