The Moroccan Government plans to increase the arms budget by 190,500 million dirhams (about EUR 17,500 million), an increase of 21.3% over the previous year, reflecting an increasing trend in defence investment.
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24/10/2026
by
Lusa
O Morocco's government plans to increase its arms budget by 190,500 million dirhams (about EUR 17,500 million), an increase of 21.3% over the previous year and one of the largest growths in recent years.
According to the Budget project of 2027, this ceiling of budgetary commitments attributed to the National Defense Administration enters the allocation called “acquisition and repair of material from the Royal Armed Forces”, and “support for the development of the defense industry”.
The increase is a trend towards an increase in the Moroccan arms budget in recent years. In 2026, this amount amounted to 157,000 million dirhams (about EUR 14,500 million), an increase of 17.8% compared to 2025.
Since 2020, Morocco has promoted a strategy to develop a national defence industry through a specific legal framework, the creation of industrial zones and agreements with foreign manufacturers to attract investments and promote technology transfer, among others.
During the last aerospace and aeronautical industry fair “Marrakech Air Show”, the minister-delegate in charge of Defense, Abdellatif Loudiyi, pointed out that Morocco’s goal is “to move from a country that imports defence capabilities to become a country that develops national capabilities and strengthens its national sovereignty.”.
Last Thursday, the Moroccan parties of the government coalition and opposition claimed the sovereignty of their country over the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, located in North Africa.
Nationalist Istiqlal warned that the partnership with Spain cannot be made at the expense of the territorial integrity of Morocco.
These positions were expressed in the Moroccan Parliament during the debate on the programme of the new Government, chaired by Fatima Ezzahra el Mansouri and formed after last month's legislative elections in Morocco.
And also on Thursday, the Polisario Front rejected the United States proposal on the renewal of the United Nations Referendum Mission in the Western Sahara (MINURSO), whose mandate expires on 31, and threatened to abandon negotiations if the text continues.
According to the Polisario Front, the text “fully reflects the position of Morocco, the occupying state”.
In a letter addressed to the Security Council, the representative of the Polisario Front to the UN, Sidi Mohamed Omar, considered that “the content of the initial draft cannot serve as a basis for any deliberation on MINURSO or for the peace process in the Western Sahara.”.