Algeria ranked third in armament

Algeria is ranked third in the Arab world in terms of military expenditure in 2007 with $2.48 billion after Saudi Arabia ($18 billion) and Kuwait ($2.58 billion), according to a report released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in the end of March.

The report mentioned that Algeria’s military markets still consist in Russia and China. It is ranked first in North Africa in terms of armament followed by Morocco and Libya.

According to the report, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia occupy the third of armament in Africa out of the 6 percent of the African continent’s portion in the world armament.

The Arab armament was estimated at more than $38 billion in 2007.

 The United States of America maintained the first rating with 31 percent while Russia was ranked second with 26 percent.

Despite wars and tragedies caused by weapons, the armament still represents the second highest sales in the world for 10 years after food. India and China were ranked among the biggest importers of weapons in 2007 while the US, Russia, France, Germany and Britain remained the most exporting countries of weapons during the same period.

The report only mentioned the ranking and money spent by countries on armament without giving more details on the types of weapons.

    “Although transfers of “major conventional weapons” dropped 8 per cent compared to 2006, sales in 2007 were the second-highest in the decade,” it said.