Germany's 2019 Military Export Reaches Record $8.85Bln - Reports

BERLIN (Sputnik) - The German government approved 7.95 billion euros ($8.85 billion) worth of military equipment sales in 2019, beating the record it set in 2015, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency reported on Friday, citing the government's response to lawmakers' request.

"These dramatic figures show that the export control system does not work", Sevim Dagdelen of Die Linke party, one of the lawmakers that made the request, was quoted as saying by the agency.

Her sentiment is echoed by Katja Keul from Die Grunen party.

"We need to finally [create] a law on defence export control to make the government present its rationale for its foreign and security policy", she said.

Berlin approved 7.86 billion euros in equipment sales in 2015.

Among Germany's biggest clients are Hungary with 1.77 billion euros worth of export, Egypt with 802 million euros, and the United States with 483 million. The share of non-NATO and non-EU buyers has decreased from last year's 52.9 percent to 44.2 percent.