393 Antonio Fonfría Defence spending in Spain. A methodological note GRAPH 2 Source: Prepared by the author with data from the institutions expenditure that is reflected in all the series with different routes. Nevertheless, it is worth pointing out that the UN information goes up to 200919 while the EDA begins its series in 2005 and ends in 2010. In relation to the quantification of resources devoted to defence, carried out at the Ministry of Defence, as has been mentioned, the two possibilities that there are have been included, that is to say, the cost finally paid and the initial budget. In relation to the latter, as is observed in the graph, it continually underestimates the defence expenditure for the reasons given. This suggests the need for greater budgetary realism, in such a manner that the final cost and the initial budget show greater similarity. Additionally, the final cost is generally below the set of estimates made by most of the organisations due fundamentally to non-inclusion of pensions. The average expenditure of the period is 13,220.7 million dollars. Only three institutions are lower than this value on average: the IMF, the CIA and obviously the budget and expenditure calculated for Spain –Figure 3-. However, the bias shown by the initial budget is extremely high - greater than three billion dollars -, with the result that it is not a good indicator of spending. Additionally, the EDA is the one which shows a greater upward bias but it is not possible to find out which headings this is due to as the information supplied by the institutions does not give such information separately. In short, the calculations made by the IMF and the CIA are those which have the least time bias with regard to the average value of the period (figure 3). 19 Spain has not sent information on defence expenditure to this institution since 2010.
REVISTA IEEE 1
To see the actual publication please follow the link above