Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
Nigeria’s military spending will rise by 20% to $3.2 billion in 2023, making the country the biggest defense spender in sub-Saharan Africa and the third highest on the entire continent, a new report reveals.
The report further revealed that global military expenditure also reached $4.443 trillion with Algeria leading other African countries in the year under review.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report, military spending in Africa will reach $51.6 billion in 2023, representing 22 percent higher than in 2022 and 1.5 percent over 2014. .
SIPRI monitors military spending developments worldwide and maintains the most comprehensive, consistent and comprehensive publicly available report on military spending.
The latest report shows that military spending in sub-Saharan Africa will reach $23.1 billion in 2023, about 8.9 percent higher than spending in 2022 but 22 percent lower than in 2014.
The report attributed the increase in Nigeria’s military expenditure to 2023 to a 20 percent increase in spending by Nigeria – the largest military spender in the sub-region.
It also noted increases in spending by several other countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.
At $28.5 billion in 2023, military spending by North African countries has increased by 38 percent from figures recorded in 2022 and by 41 percent since 2014.
Algeria and Morocco were by far the biggest spenders in this subregion, together accounting for 82 percent of North Africa’s military spending in 2023.
Algeria’s military spending rose 76 percent to $18.3 billion, the country’s highest level of spending ever and its biggest annual increase in spending since 1974.
The increase was facilitated by a sharp rise in gas export revenues to countries in Europe as they moved away from Russian supplies.
Although Morocco was the second largest military spender in North Africa and the continent as a whole, its military spending fell for the second consecutive year, falling by 2.5 percent in 2023 to $5.2 billion.
The SIPRI report showed that Algeria recorded the highest military spending in Africa at $18.2 billion, followed by Morocco with $5.1 billion in total military spending in 2023.
Nigeria ranked third overall in Africa and first in sub-Saharan Africa as the largest military spender at $3.2 billion, followed by South Africa at $2.781 billion and Angola at $1.27 billion. Ethiopia ($1.227 billion), Tunisia ($1.2 billion), South Sudan ($1.076 billion; Kenya and Uganda with $999 million and $977 million, respectively.
The report said that overall, global military spending increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2023, reaching a total of $2.443 trillion.
The 6.8 percent increase in 2023 was the steepest annual rise since 2009 and pushed global spending to the highest level SIPRI has ever recorded.
The global military burden – defined as military spending as a percentage of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – rose to 2.3 percent in 2023.
Average military spending as a percentage of government spending rose 0.4 percentage points to 6.9 percent in 2023, and global military spending per person was the highest since 1990 at $306.
SIPRI noted that the increase in global military spending in 2023 could be attributed mainly to the ongoing war in Ukraine and escalating geopolitical tensions in Asia, Oceania and the Middle East.
Military spending increased in all five geographic regions, with significant increases in spending recorded in Europe, Asia and Oceania, and the Middle East.
The five biggest spenders in 2023 were the United States, China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia, which together accounted for 61 percent of global military spending.
The United States and China remained the world’s two biggest spenders and both increased their military spending in 2023.
US spending was $916 billion while Chinese spending was about $296 billion.
Russia’s military spending increased by 24 percent in 2023 to about $109 billion.
This was equivalent to 5.9 percent of Russia’s GDP.
Ukraine became the eighth largest military spender in 2023, increasing its spending by 51 percent to $64.8 billion, or 37 percent of GDP.
In 2023, military spending by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states reached $1.341 trillion, or 55 percent of global spending.
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