SPRI Military Spending : «Morocco is the 2nd largest spender in North Africa, behind Algeria»

According to the Swedish annual think tank, SPRI World Military Spending, Morocco’s military spending has reached in 2016 USD 3 293 million. A number that remains modest when compared to Algeria who spent during the same year more than USD 10 654 million on military weapons, equipments and research. The report covers other areas of the world, such as Europe, Americas, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Based on open sources, the Stockholm International Peace Institute reports that the world military spending in 2016 was USD 1.69 trillion referring to the fact that Europe and the USA have increased their military spending compared to oil exporting countries.

The SPRI survey indicates the USA, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, France, UK, Japan, Germany and South Korea are respectively the countries with the highest military spending. The USA for example, which dominates the top ten list, spent in 2016 USD 611 billion on armaments. The same thing applies to the African continent where Military spending reached USD 37.9 billion in 2016 with a slight decrease of 1,3% compared to 2015.

Morocco’s the second largest spender in North Africa

Contacted by Yabiladi, Dr Nan Tian a PhD researcher at the SPRI Arms and Military Program explained that : «Morocco is the 2nd largest spender in North Africa, behind Algeria». He claimed that «This differential is actually very large, over 3 times the difference». According to Dr Tian «Morocco, like its neighbor Algeria has seen a steady rise in military spending in recent years», referring to 2015 as an exceptional year when the spending recorded a sharp fall totalling USD 3 268 million. The researcher also pointed out that «Part of the driver behind this increase (the increase of military spending) has been the existing tensions with Algeria».

Compared to the Middle East, North African countries’ military spending is «far below that of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey», Dr Nan Tian declared to Yabiladi. Military spending is highly connected to political stability, and the SIPRI works on investigating the amount of money spent on that sector. «In many cases there is a direct correlation where increases in perceived threat can lead to high military spending. This would be a political decision made by government in order to address their personal views of threat to their country», Dr Tian concluded.