Ethiopia today announced an increase in defense budget for the next fiscal year starting from July. Ahmed Shide, the Ethiopian Finance Minister, presented budget at the House of People’s Representatives.
The defense budget has been increased to 65.7 billion birr, 23% increase from last year. Last year the military budget was around 50 billion birr.
One of the main reasons behind increase in military spending is internal security situation. Ethiopia put an end to 2-year long deadly war in northern part of the country in November 2022. Immediately after that new armed uprising began in the Amhara region.
Since last year, the Ethiopian military has been conducting military operation against Fano militia members in the Amhara region. 10-month state of emergency ended earlier this month but still situation is not under full military control in the Amhara region.
In the Oromia region, for years, Oromo Liberation Army OLA, an armed group, has been fighting security forces. OLA, around 2 weeks ago, announced to launch a new operation against security forces.
Another reason for increased military spending is procurement of new weapons by the Ethiopian military. Landlocked Ethiopia is building a navy, hoping to gain access to sea through Somaliland. It bought modern Wing Long, TB 2 and Akinji drones in recent years from the UAE and Turkey. Ethiopian national defense force has been conducting large scale new recruitments as armed groups are also getting bigger.
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