The oil price slump means that defense spending in the Middle East will flatten despite an increase in tensions as Gulf Arab states wage war in Yemen and conflicts deepen in Syria and Iraq, IHS Jane’s said in a report. After growing swiftly between 2012 and 2014, defense spending in the region is expected to be little changed at $170 billion over the next two years as budgetary pressures come up against security concerns, Craig Caffrey, principal analyst at IHS Jane’s, said in a report Sunday. “2015 saw the first defense budget cuts for a decade as oil prices crashed,” Caffrey said. “We saw the first marginal cuts in 2015, but, those cuts are now expected to deepen in 2016 as states are forced into pursuing fiscal consolidation with more vigor.” Saudi Arabia’s 2015 defense budget was the largest in region at $46.3 billion, compared with $49.6 billion in […]