Oman tops the world in Military Expenditure?

It well known that the Middle Eastern countries like to spend on their Military. (There's a nice description and photos of the recent IDEX 9th International Defence Exhibition and Conference held at the Abu Dhabi Exhibition center last month here at the Magnum website.)



A friendly arms dealer snapped in Abu Dhabi last month. Photo ripped from Martin Parr/Magnum Photos


Interesting statement in the comments section caught my eye:
Oman is listed as the No. 1 country in the world for Military expenditure as a % of GDP (of countries where such data is available, so in reality we probably get beaten into 2nd place by North Korea).

The full list is available from the ever helpful Central Intelligence Agency here. And there we are, proudly at the number 1 spot.

Country Military expenditures (% of GDP)

1 Oman 11.4% 2005 est.
2 Qatar 10.0% 2005 est.
3 Saudi Arabia 10.0% 2005 est.
4 Iraq 8.6% 2006
5 Jordan 8.6% 2006
6 Israel 7.3% 2006
7 Yemen 6.6% 2006
8 Armenia 6.5% FY01
9 Eritrea 6.3% 2006 est.
10 Macedonia 6.0% 2005 est.
11 Burundi 5.9% 2006 est.
12 Syria 5.9% 2005 est.
13 Angola 5.7% 2006
14 Mauritania 5.5% 2006
15 Maldives 5.5% 2005 est.
16 Kuwait 5.3% 2006
17 Turkey 5.3% 2005 est.
18 El Salvador 5.0% 2006
19 Morocco 5.0% 2003 est.
20 Singapore 4.9% 2005 est.

Of course, the trick with this No. 1 rank is based on % GDP, and I understand also includes ROP.

In absolute spending terms (based on 2002 purchasing power parity data), Oman only ranks around 50th out of 164 in a 2004 report to the US Congress.

On % GDP, we still came out top in the GCC, and 4th Globally.



In terms of GCC absolute spend though, we're not too bad. In the 2004 report the estimates are (2002 spend in US$)

Saudi Arabia: $22.2 bln
Kuwait: $3.5 bln
United Arab Emirates: ~$2.8 bln
Oman: $2.7 bln
Qatar: $1.9 bln
Bahrain: 0.33 bln

This is one of the reasons Oman is a safe country to live in. It's security we do pay for!

But perhaps we can improve the transparency of our reporting a bit, and get off the no. 1 spot... I think its hardly a ranking we deserve, as Oman is not overtly militarised...

Iranian Military in town

The Iranians are in town this week to have the annual joint military committee meeting. I'd be interested to hear the discussions on the straights of Hormuz, given the recent reports of how tensions remain high.
Mehr News

Iran-Oman joint military committee to meet this week
TEHRAN, Aug. 22 (MNA) – Iran’s Ambassador to Oman, Morteza Rahimi, on Wednesday said the seventh meeting of Iran-Oman joint military committee will be held this week in Muscat.
“This meeting is held annually and will last for three days,” he told the Fars News Agency.

The committee’s last meeting was held in Tehran last December.

Oman has long had reasonably good relationships with Tehran, especially with the old school military establishment (as opposed to the revolutionary guard). Iranian troups and military aid assisted HM in his problems with the communist insurgency in the 70s. These days Oman is playing a huge role in trying to bridge the gap between Iran and the USA, with the shared strategic interest of Hormuz to bring it to the table as an honest broker.

In addition, Oman helps the sanctions problem a little by turning a blind eye (and actually taxing) much of the small trade in computers and car parts from Kasab across to Iran.