Morocco spends 3.28% of its GDP on its military, CIA World Factbook says

According to a ranking made public by the US Central Intelligence Agency «World Factbook», Morocco allocated 3.28% of its gross domestic product to military expenditures in 2016.

Published recently by the agency tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, the survey ranks the Kingdom 26th ahead of Kyrgyzstan (27th) and behind the United States (25th).

Morocco is positioned 11th among Arab countries investigated by the CIA report. The list is topped by Oman, ranked first in the world, followed by Saudi Arabia 3rd, Algeria 5th, the United Arab Emirates 6th, Kuwait 9th, Lebanon 10th, Bahrain 11th, Jordan 12th, Yemen 16th, and Iraq 18th.

In North Africa, the Kingdom is ranked second, behind Algeria 5th and ahead of Mauritania 29th, Tunisia 40th, and Egypt 63rd.

The report was overall topped by Oman 1st, South Sudan 2nd, Saudi Arabia 3rd, the Republic of Congo 4th, and Algeria 5th. Ireland 149th, Laos 150th, Mauritius 151st, Equatorial Guinea 152nd, and Iceland 153 are the countries that spend the least amount of money on military.

Money spent on military in Morocco

According to the CIA report, Morocco allocated 3.25%, 3.68%, 3.81%, 3.46%¨of its GDP in 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively, on military expenditures.

For the record, Morocco was ranked 55th by the 2018 Military Strength index which studied the military powers of 136 countries around the world.

The Kingdom’s military strength was positioned 3rd in North Africa, after Egypt 12th and Algeria 23rd. Morocco is ranked 6th in the Arab World in a list headed by Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria.

According to the survey released in November, Morocco allocates a budget of $3,400,000,000 for its military and has more than $45,000,000,000 of external debt. Moroccan military has $22,970,000,000 of reserves of foreign exchange and gold in addition to $300,000,000,000 purchasing parity power.

When it comes to equipment, the country has a total aircraft strength of 284, including 56 fighters, 116 aircrafts used for transport and 80 trainers. The country owns 130 helicopters, 1,238 combat tanks, 2,348 armored fighting vehicles, 448 self-propelled artillery, 192 towed artillery, and 72 rocket projectors, the same source reported.