German arms exports hit record after big sales to Egypt

BERLIN (AP) - Germany's arms exports reached record levels in 2021, largely due to significant sales of maritime and air defense weapons to Egypt, officials said Tuesday.

Preliminary figures released by the Economy Ministry show Germany exported arms worth 9.35 billion euros ($10.65 billion) last year, an increase of 61% compared to 2020. This topped the previous record amount of 8 billion euros in 2019.

Most of the exports - worth over 9 billion euros - were authorized by the previous government under former Chancellor Angela Merkel, the ministry said.

The figures show weapons worth about 4.3 billion euros were exported to Egypt. Human rights activists have accused the Egyptian government of serious rights abuses and involvement in the conflicts in Yemen and Libya.

Germany also exported about 1 billion euros worth of arms to the United States.