El Salvador's defense budgets traditionally were relatively modest, and the percentage of the national income devoted to the armed forces generally was conservative. Military expenditures in the post-World War II period to 1970 ranged from 9 to 11 percent of the national budget. The demands of counterinsurgency resulted, however, in large increases in the country's defense spending in the 1980s. The defense budget, which included the "public security sector," increased substantially from fiscal year (FY--see Glossary) 1982, when it totalled US$139 million, to FY 1988, when it reached US$204 million (see Foreign Military Influence and Assistance , this ch.). In 1986 army expenditures accounted for 71 percent of the total defense budget; air force, 23 percent; and navy, 4 percent. The 1986 defense budget constituted 4.7 percent of the gross national product (GNP--see Glossary). By the late 1980s, defense expenditures accounted for 25 percent of the national budget.
Data as of November 1988