ABSTRACT
For 1985, the Soviet Finance Minister, V. F. Garbuzov, announced a sharp increase in "expenditures for defense": up 12 percent compared with 1984. When the new estimate of the trend of Soviet defense spending was announced, it was emphasized at the same time that the slowdown in the growth of total expenditures was attributable to a standstill in the level of spending for the procurement of weapons and equipment. The actual future course of Soviet defense expenditures is difficult to predict because, for the most part, we can do no more than construct hypotheses about the reasons for the post-1976 change in the trend of expenditures. The annual rate of growth for the Soviet gross national product up to the end of the present decade is likely to amount to "only" about 2 percent. A British author dealt with the future trend of Soviet defense spending, after information concerning its lower growth since 1976 first became available.
