Rabat – Aziz Akhannouch, head of the Moroccan government, ratified last Monday the 2022 draft finance bill number 76.21. The bill includes the details of a MAD 115,953 million ($12.8 billion) allocated to “equipment purchase and maintenance for the Royale Armed Forces,” increasing by MAD 4,604 billion ($508,625 million) from 2021’s military budget.
In the same week, the Algerian government announced that military spending in 2022 is set at $9.7 billion, marking an increase of $700 million from 2021.
As early as 2017, Market Research, a leading international firm specialized in marketing management, forecasted that by 2022, the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces will become the largest military power on the African continent.
The report, titled “The Future of the Moroccan Defence Industry – Market Attractiveness, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts to 2022,” details Morocco’s large-scale plan to modernize its military arsenal.
As part of the plan, Morocco secured major arms deals including state-of-the-art arms and ammunition from fighter jets, to training crafts and tanks, the report shows.
It also underscores the broad range of future procurement plans that include submarines, helicopters, warplanes, radar systems, and naval vessels.
In addition to procuring advanced weapon systems, Morocco’s effort to enhance its diplomacy is making the North African country an attractive market for defence companies worldwide.
Plans to modernize the Moroccan Air Force resulted in a number of arms deals with the US and Turkey, according to defence experts. The deals have boosted Morocco’s access to stealth weaponry, US drones, precision-guided munitions, and laser-guided munitions according to the same source.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institution (SIPRI), between 2005 and 2014, Algeria was ranked number one in the list of arms importers in Africa, followed by Morocco. In March 2021, SIPRI reported that between 2011 and 2015, Algeria increased its arms imports by 64%, while arms imports in Morocco were down by 60%.
Regional instability, the rising tension in the Sahel region, as well as the constant threat of terorrism attacks are among the major factors prompting Morocco, Algeria, and neighboring Tunisia to increase their military expenditures in 2022.
