High demand for German weapons

Germany recorded massive exports in 2013 and the figures were mind blowing. A very big part of the massive income was generated by weapon exports. Official figures revealed Germany exported arms worth of 2 billion dollars only to its top three buyers.

Despite the fact that the income was huge for the government and arms business, officials want to reduce arms exports to controversial countries. Weapon sales peaked a decade high in 2013. Algeria bought weapons worth of more than 800 million dollars, Qatar of 650 million dollars, but also USA close to the same amount. The list goes on with Saudi Arabia and Indonesia all countries acquiring tanks or tank parts, parts of fighter jets or helicopters and other military systems.

Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's vice-chancellor and economy minister and his department will examine guns and tank exports more closely before giving the “green light”. An official report revealed Germany approved export licenses for weapons and military systems worth over 6 billion euros in 2013. The same report revealed the number of countries outside NATO and EU increased dramatically.

It was the highest amount of weapons sold to developing countries by Germany since 2005. The same statistic revealed the income in 2013 was almost 25 percent higher than the year before.