SIPRI report shows military spendings in African countries dwindled by 8.4 pct

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has recently released a report that shows the military expenses in the African countries reached USD 40.6 billion in the last year.

The report revealed by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) claims that there has been a decrease of 8.4 percent. This is the most important fall since 2014 when military expenses were at a record high.

The report shows that the military expenses of North African countries reduced to USD 22.2 billion, which represents a fall of 5.5 percent in comparison to the volume of spending in 2017. Compared with the 2009 military spendings, it represents a whopping 74 percent rise, as reported by Ecofin Agency.

These expenses were estimated at USD 18.4 billion, representing an 11 percent and 21 percent decrease compared with the respective spendings for 2017 and 2009. The report explained that the four North African countries' 2018 military spendings were higher than that of the 45 Sub Saharan countries reviewed. Algeria spent the most with military spendings estimated at USD 9.6 billion in 2018, representing a 6.1 percent decrease year to year.

The military spendings of two other largest weapon importers, Angola and Sudan namely, have recorded an 18 percent and 49 percent decrease in their spendings respectively. Angola's spendings dropped for the fourth year in a row to USD 2 billion due notably to lower oil prices since mid-2014. As for Sudan, it is affected by an economic crisis.

Going against the trend, the military spendings of some countries has risen during the period under review. These countries are Burkina Faso (+52 percent), Zimbabwe (+19 percent), Nigeria (+18 percent) and Uganda (+17 percent).

SIPRI indicates that the world military spendings rose by 2.6 percent year on year to USD 1,822 billion in 2018. The five largest spenders were the USA, China, Saudi Arabia, India and France that concentrated close to 60 percent of the world spendings, Ecofin Agency noted.

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