(Ecofin Agency) - In 2022, in a context marked by economic challenges, African countries reduced their military spending. The decline was more pronounced in Sub-Saharan Africa than in North Africa where Algeria and Morocco seem to be in an arms race of some sort.  

In Africa, cumulated military spending fell by 5.3% to $39.4 billion in 2022, according to a report published on Monday 24 April by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The report indicates that military spending in North African countries reached $19.1 billion, down 3.2% compared to the spending in 2021. In the subregion, Algeria and Morocco accounted for 74% of the overall spending. The Western Sahara conflict, which has pitted Morocco against the Algerian-backed Polisario Front independence fighters since 1975, is the main catalyst for a new arms race between these two Maghreb countries. In 2022, Algeria's military spending fell by 3.7% to $9.1 billion, while Morocco's remained unchanged at $5 billion.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the spending fell by 7.3% to $20.3 billion, mainly due to a sharp drop in spending by Nigeria (-38% to $3.1 billion) and South Africa (-8.4% to $3 billion).

Ethiopia on the other hand increased its spending. The offensive launched in November 2020 against the Tigray rebels increased Addis Ababa's spending by 88 percent in 2022, bringing it to $1 billion.

The SIPRI report points out that global military spending increased by 3.7 percent in 2022, to a record $2.24 trillion. The war in Ukraine was one of the main drivers of spending growth, with a 9.2 percent increase in Russian military spending and a strong 640 percent increase for Ukraine.

The United States, China, Russia, India, and Saudi Arabia were the top five spenders, accounting for about 63% of global military spending. Europe saw the largest annual increase in spending since the end of the Cold War (+13%),  largely due to spending related to the Russia-Ukraine war.