Morocco is raising the ceiling on advance defence spending commitments to a new high. Article 36 of the draft 2027 Finance Bill authorizes the minister delegate to the head of government in charge of National Defence Administration to enter into commitments worth up to 190.5 billion dirhams, to be charged against 2028 appropriations under the special-purpose account for the acquisition and repair of Royal Armed Forces equipment and support for the development of the defense industry. The corresponding ceiling in the 2026 Finance Act was 157 billion dirhams, making the increase 33.5 billion dirhams, or 21%.
As military analyst Abdelhamid Harifi, administrator of the FAR-Maroc forum, previously explained, the figure represents authorization to enter into multi-year spending commitments, a standard budgetary mechanism in sensitive sectors such as defense.
The 190.5-billion-dirham figure does not represent money that will actually be spent in 2027. Rather, it gives the National Defense Administration the authority to enter into contracts covering weapons procurement, industrial cooperation and military modernization programs over several years. It is a spending commitment ceiling, not an immediate cash outlay.
The arrangement gives Morocco room to negotiate and conclude strategic contracts while keeping borrowing under control. By spreading payments over several years, it helps avoid unsustainable spikes in expenditure and reflects the long, complex procurement cycles typical of defense programs, which often involve international industrial partnerships.
Day-to-day defense spending, meanwhile, is set to grow more moderately. Personnel costs will rise by 5% to 49.34 billion dirhams, from 47 billion in 2026. The draft budget also provides for 5,500 new positions within the National Defence Administration. Spending on equipment and other operating expenses, including maintenance, logistics and support for military personnel, will reach 8.37 billion dirhams.
Investment allocation rises to MAD 15.2 billion
On investment, the general budget provides for 7.2 billion dirhams in payment appropriations for 2027, alongside 8 billion dirhams in commitment appropriations for 2028 and subsequent years. Together, these bring the investment allocation to 15.2 billion dirhams.
The special-purpose account used to finance equipment purchases, major repairs and defense industry development will receive 11.49 billion dirhams. That compares with 11.5 billion in 2026 and 10.8 billion in 2025, leaving funding effectively unchanged following last year’s increase.
Other allocations show little movement. The fund supporting the Royal Armed Forces’ participation in peacekeeping missions, humanitarian operations and international cooperation will retain its 200 million dirham allocation. The Royal Gendarmerie support fund will receive 50 million dirhams, while independently managed state services under the Defense Administration, including military hospitals, have been allocated 533.5 million dirhams in operating expenditure.
