Military Spending in Guatemala: The Fiscal and Microeconomic Impact: 1969-1995 Thomas Scheetz
The relative increase in spending on military personnel by the Ministry of Defense is especially remarkable if one considers that in 1994 the average military officer earned more than four times as much as the average police officer or the average health care provider.
If one also takes into account the contribution made by the Treasury to the different pension systems, it is clear that benefits are even more skewed given the privileges afforded to retired military personnel through the Military Pension Institute compared to those provided under the civilian social security system administered by the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security.
TABLE 6 Source: see annexNumber of posts and average labor costs per post in the Central Government of Guatemala in 1994
Year Central Government Ministry of the Interior Ministry of Defense Ministry of Health Ministry of Education Number of posts (permanent and contracts)
1994 164634 17534 11000 21507 74071 Costos laborales Average labor costs by post
(nominal quetzales)1994 15071 10794 47140 12192 9381 d) Military spending on arms purchases
The Guatemalan Armed Forces cannot be characterized as having spent lavishly on military equipment. In large measure, this is due to the nature of the military's response to an internal guerrilla war, which does not require high technology military equipment. As a result of the rather basic character of military investment, the Guatemalan Armed Forces are now in a good position to redefine their future mission without being conditioned by the need to maintain costly defense systems. Table 7 shows the value of military equipment acquisitions in constant 1968 quetzales.
TABLE 7 Source: see annexSpending on military equipment by the Guatemalan Ministry of National Defense
(millions of real 1968 quetzales)
Year Value of Military
Equipment Acquisitions1968 1.15 1969 1.08 1970 9.96 1971 1.34 1972 6.52 1973 1.66 1974 1.24 1975 7.26 1976 7.19 1977 11.47 1978 6.07 1979 7.61 1980 9.52 1981 9.61 1982 16.26 1983 6.85 1984 5.56 1985 5.99 1986 3.42 1987 3.86 1988 3.88 1989 3.64 1990 4.69 1991 5.02 1992 6.67 1993 5.08 1994 2.06
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