The bill for weapons that the German government allowed to be exported last year recorded a new record, reaching a value of nearly 12.2 billion euros.

This came according to a statement published by the German Ministry of Economy in Berlin today, Thursday.

The statement pointed out that Ukraine was the main importer of German weapons, as the value of weapons exported from Berlin to Kyiv last year reached 4.44 billion euros.

The statement explained that the German government issued last year export permits for war weapons worth 6.44 billion euros, while the value of other armament equipment allowed by Berlin to be exported in 2023 reached 5.76 billion euros, including, for example, armored vehicles.

It is worth mentioning that the record figure for German arms export bills in 2023 was announced earlier last December, but the announcement was then based on preliminary figures that did not yet include the numbers for the second half of last month.

Thus, the new record figure for 2023 increases by 30% compared to the previous record achieved in 2021 with a value of 9.35 billion euros.

For his part, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy Sven Giegold said that "Germany’s ongoing support for Ukraine in defending itself against the unlawful Russian aggressive war serves the global peace order."

Giegold clarified that the second largest importer of German weapons last year was Norway, indicating that this illustrates that the German government adheres to its basic restrictive policy in which the issue of human rights has special importance in German arms exports, and said that "the record demand for German armament equipment by democratic partner countries is an expression of the increasing need for military security, for which the Russian aggression bears the main responsibility (for this increase)."

About 89% of the value of weapons allowed for export, equivalent to 10.84 billion euros, went to member countries of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or countries of equal status such as Japan, Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand, in addition to South Korea, Singapore, and Ukraine.