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Rabat – Third in the Arab world and fifth globally, Morocco’s policy in acquiring military equipment continues, revealed a report by the French Ministry of Defense.
After China, which led the ranking, Morocco is positioned after Singapore, Egypt and the Emirates United Arab Emirates, from 2014 to the first half of 2015, said the same report.
France remains the main supplier of Morocco in terms of armaments, particularly since the same report ranks France fourth among arms producers and suppliers in the world.
In 2016, France took 5 percent of the global arms market share, while the United States remains the world leader, with 57 percent of the total production and sales estimated, said Akhbar Al Yaoum in its Thursday, December 14 edition.
The global sales of arms and military services have increased significantly in 2016 after five successive years of recession, added the Moroccan daily.
With EUR 127 million spent on military equipment, Morocco is leading the North African list, spending EUR 19 million more than Algeria and EUR 104 million more than Tunisia. In Africa, most of the French arms sales in 2016 were destined for Egypt, amounting to EUR 1.3 billion, revealed a previous report by the French military of defense.
Since 2012, deliveries to Morocco have reached EUR 655.2 million against 212 million for Algeria. The two countries are, along with Egypt, the main purchasers of French armaments on the continent. The report also notes that Morocco was the 10th largest buyer of French armaments in the world from 2007 to 2016.
The kingdom also leads the list of military equipments’ orders. In 2016, Morocco ordered EUR 89.9 million worth of weaponry from France, compared to EUR 63.7 million by Algeria. Since 2012, Morocco’s orders totaled EUR 800.7 million, compared to EUR 295.5 million for its eastern neighbor and EUR 23.7 million for Tunisia.
