Algeria spikes defense budget to $21.6 bln

As Algerians continue to suffer in long queues for basic goods, the military regime in Algeria has allocated its defense department a bloated budget of 21.6 billion dollars in 2024, up from 19 billion this year.

The army thus widens the gap with other departments as the largest spending sector, mirroring its position as a kingmaker in a country with a civilian presidential façade.

Trapped in the resource curse wherein more than 90% of the country’s sales are hydrocarbons, Algeria prefers to squander its diminishing foreign exchange reserves on Russian armament.

The West has deterred Algeria from sealing large scale armament deals with Russia casting a shadow of doubt on last year’s spending.

With the largest defense budget in Africa, Algeria took half of Russian arms sales on the continent. But, the ongoing war in Ukraine has seriously undermined Russia’s capacity to supply its clients.

As Algeria faces lackluster growth prospects in the medium term due to the decrease in oil and gas prices, the country would not be able to maintain high spending on the army, or else it would do so at the expense of further impoverishing its population and undermining its state-dominated economy.

Keeping up with Morocco is now a thing of the past as the North African Kingdom widened the armament quality gap with Algeria, including through sealing alliances, mainly with the US.