A report released today by anti-debt charity Jubilee Debt Campaign revealed that 75 percent of export debt owed to the U.K. comes from past loans for arms sales to repressive regimes.
The export credit agency UK Export Finance’s latest annual report shows the government guaranteed close to US$210 million in loans to the Indonesian and Saudi Arabia governments for arms sales.
The money loaned to Indonesia was for an ‘air defense systems,’ while Saudi Arabia received funds for unspecified ‘defense equipment.’
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The report released by Jubilee Debt Campaign shows loans to former Indonesian dictator General Suharto for aircraft and tanks used against the population, loans to deceased former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein for arms equipment including a chemical weapons factory and loans to the Argentine military dictatorship during the 1970s.
“The UK government has a horrendous history of backing loans for arms sales to repressive regimes and developing countries. This undermines human rights, fuels conflict, and takes precious resources away from vital development spending such as on healthcare and education,” said Tim Jones, policy officer at the Jubilee Debt Campaign. “The UK government should stop subsidizing arms sales by ending loans for military equipment. And it should audit the debt which is owed to it, and cancel that which is illegitimate.”
Jones added, “Loans to subsidize arms sales can never be justified, as they are the opposite of productive investment, wasting resources and trapping countries with unjust debts.”