BEIRUT -- A senior financier on Friday broke a taboo on discussing arms spending in the Arab world, saying it represented a missed opportunity for the region to catch up with the world economy.
"One-tenth of the Arab arms budget could plug our information technology gap," Hisham al-Sherif, head of Cairo based IT Investments, told international bankers in Beirut for the prestigious Arab Capital Markets conference."We are 220 days away from the third millennium -- the information age. We can either bring up second- and third-rate citizens or arm them for honest competition in the products of the mind," said Sherif, whose firm runs the only Arab technology investment fund.
At $56 billion a year, military spending accounts for 7-8 percent of the Middle East's gross domestic product, significantly more than any other region. Even in countries with poorly equipped armies, such as Lebanon, the military and security take up an estimated one-third of the budget.
As the century ends, Arab governments are spending more on arms despite facing bleak social and economic prospects on many fronts, such as slow growth, lower standards of living and high unemployment.
Prosperity would follow a bigger Arab information technology industry, argued MIT-educated Sherif. He produced figures showing a huge educational and technology gap with the developed world.
Around 142 million of the 280 million inhabitants of the Arab countries were students. Each is allocated $112 a year, compared to $1,200 in more advanced nations.