In the national budget for the 2018/19 financial year R47,9 billion has been allocated to the Department of Defence.
This represents a significant decrease in defence expenditure over the last few years. In her budget speech last week the Minister of Defence noted that their allocation has dropped by R18 billion during the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
Before this latest cut South Africa’s expenditure on Defence was already low by international standards. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) the average expenditure on defence in 2017 was 1.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). SIPRI estimates that in 2017 South Africa spent only one percent of its GDP on defence.
Of the 149 countries rated by SIPRI only 42 allocate a smaller proportion of their GDP to defence. At its peak South African expenditure on defence rose to 4.6% of GDP in 1998.
Even at that stage expenditure was less than half that of the current allocation of the oil rich states of Oman and Saudi Arabia. Both of these countries spend more than 10% of their GDP on defence. Expenditure as a percentage of GDP for the 149 countries is illustrated on the attached graphic.
South African expenditure on defence relative to GDP is now as low as it has every been and matches the previous low set in 1959.
