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Algeria
THE DEFENSE BURDEN
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People's National Army officer lecturing on mechanical principles
at the Combined Services Military Academy, Cherchell, west of
Algiers
Courtesy Algerian Ministry of Information
Algerian military spending since independence has been relatively
restrained. Despite the influence of the military establishment,
the government on the whole has refrained from unduly favoring
defense interests over other sectors; on the contrary, it has
attempted to avoid burdensome military commitments. Algeria's
outlays on its armed forces, both in terms of share of gross national
product (GNP--see
Glossary) and of total government budget devoted to defense, have
been well below those of its North African neighbors, Libya, Morocco,
and Tunisia.
The bulk of funding for the Ministry of National Defense is allocated
annually from the country's current budget. In addition, an unknown
amount is included in the country's capital budget. According
to official Algerian statistics, funds allocated to the ministry
measured in dinars (for value of the dinar--see
Glossary) remained relatively constant through the early 1970s.
Although this was a time when the country was still creating a
professional military establishment and was developing its air
and naval services, defense funding showed a substantial decline
as a percentage of the central government's current budget, reflecting
the government's preoccupation with domestic socioeconomic development.
By the mid-1970s, military spending began to rise as the country
sought to improve its defensive posture and to achieve a higher
level of military preparedness after the October 1973 War in the
Middle East and Morocco's moves to annex the Western Sahara. According
to data compiled by the United States Arms Control and Disarmament
Agency (ACDA), defense expenditures continued to increase rapidly
between 1978 and 1982, but fell slightly as a percentage of the
government's current budget from 14.1 percent in 1978 to 13.0
percent in 1982. Military expenditures reached a high point in
1982, amounting to US$1.6 billion in constant 1991 dollars. Algeria's
officially reported military expenditures consisted entirely of
recurring or operating expenditures; all or most capital spending
and overseas arms purchases were omitted from the reported figures.
The ACDA studies added estimates covering these unreported items
to the defense budget.
ACDA's statistics indicated that military spending as a percentage
of central government expenditures continued to decline after
1982, reaching a low of 6.3 percent in 1985, before rising again
to nearly 10 percent in 1988. Military expenditures remained at
3 to 4 percent of GNP during most of the 1980s, but tapered off
sharply to under 2 percent in 1991. Military expenditures per
capita were US$50 annually in 1989 and US$28 in 1991. This sum
was comparable to Morocco's expenditures, whereas Libya, with
a much smaller population and an unusually large military sector
financed by oil exports, spent US$613 per capita in 1991. A separate
study, World Military and Social Expenditures by Ruth
Leger Sivard, found that Algeria's military expenditures were
proportionately lower than the average of all the countries of
North Africa.
Algeria has no significant arms industry, and therefore valuable
foreign exchange must be devoted to the purchase of imported weapons
systems. To some extent, defense costs are offset by the contribution
of the military to the civilian economy. Under both Boumediene
and Benjedid, the government stressed the role of the armed forces
in national development. Soldiers carried out public works projects
that were often managed by officers. This aspect of the ANP's
mission was emphasized in Article 82 of the 1976 constitution:
"The People's National Army, instrument of the revolution, participates
in the development of the country and in the construction of socialism."
When a new constitution was adopted in 1989, the army's role was
defined in a narrower traditional form as that of safeguarding
national territory.
During the War of Independence, the FLN initiated a number of
projects designed to achieve for the military a degree of selfsufficiency
in producing food and other basic supplies. For example, at least
fifty large farms were taken from French settlers and converted
to army cooperatives after the war ended in 1962. These projects
supplied some of the ANP's needs and the military also profited
from sales on the civilian market. The army was also involved
in manufacturing and construction enterprises. Much of the construction
and surfacing of a major road across the Sahara to the Niger border
was the responsibility of the army, as was a notable planting
project, the barrage vert, or green wall of trees, aimed
at limiting the spread of the Sahara.
The army, furthermore, built low-income housing projects as well
as barracks and housing for its own personnel. Since 1989, however,
the army has discontinued civilian construction activities and
a number of military enterprises. Some of these enterprises, including
a brickworks, a wood-processing plant, and a poultry-raising business,
have been transferred to public or private companies. Only certain
road and railroad projects of a strategic nature have been retained.
Data as of December 1993
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