The South African Army budget will remain static over the upcoming years, defenceWeb reported on February 27.
South Africa’s allocation for landward defense – covering the Army – will feature only minimum increases in the upcoming budgets. For the current budget year (2018/2019), the Army received ZAR16.2 billion ($1.17 billion). This figure will increase slightly to ZAR16.4 billion ($1.18 billion) in the 2019/2020 budget, and ZAR17.4 billion ($1.25 billion) in the 2020/2021 budget, before falling slightly to ZAR17 billion ($1.22 billion) in 2021/2022. The Army budget is about a third of the overall defense budget.
If these planned allocations hold, the budget will feature a compound annual growth rate of about 1.6 percent over the period.
DefenceWeb noted that the South African military is prioritizing areas, such as preventing further erosion of defense capabilities, participation in ongoing peacekeeping missions, protecting the country’s border, collaborating with other governmental departments to promote the security of the people, and maintaining infrastructure.
Several procurement programs, such as the Badger IFV acquisition, have encountered setbacks stemming in part from a lack of available financing for the defense industry. A program to acquire offshore and inshore patrol vessels was scaled down, perhaps over financing as well.
The South African military is involved in supporting MONUSCO, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Navy, meanwhile, has boosted its presence in the Mozambique Channel, to combat piracy.
Military markets analyst, covering Eurasia, Middle East, and Africa.
