2023-DE-BIHjpg

Defence expenditure – Bosnia and Herzegovina – 2023

Military expenditure of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been almost the same in the past five years, both nominally and as the share of GDP.¹

The Parliamentary Assembly has not adopted a federal budget in a timely manner since 2018.
The budget is usually adopted during, or at the end of, the year to which it pertains. Due to a political
crisis, the federal budget for 2021 was not been adopted at all, and quarterly decisions on temporary
financing were adopted on the basis of the 2020 expenditure. The 2022 budget was adopted only
in July, while the budget for 2023 has not been adopted yet. Balance sheets, presenting the actual
expenditure, are adopted regularly and in a timely fashion.

2021

Share of GDP 0.74%

 

Almost 90% of the defence budget in 2021 and 2022 was spent on personnel due to the political deadlock, which obstructed planning and allocation of resources. Bosnia and Herzegovina generally spends the largest portion of its defence budget on personnel costs, while the arms and equipment share has not exceeded 4% since 2017. Budget and balance sheets contain aggregated sums and sources of funding for rather general categories of expenses. For instance, arms and equipment expenses can be found under the aggregated category Equipment Procurement. The documents also include narrative reports with the rationale behind some general categories, i.e. monthly personnel turnover.

    1. Due to the complexity of the budget system, it is methodologically challenging to calculate the military expenditure of BiH as a share of the total government expenditure, comparable to other countries in the region. Namely, the two entities have independent budgets that, then, allocate funds upward to the federal budget, which includes the defence budget.

2023 – Balkan Defence Monitor
Defence Expenditures –
Bosnia and Herzegovina

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2023-DE-Albanija

Defence expenditure – Albania – 2023

Albanian defence expenditure has experienced a steady increase since 2017, with the exception of 2020, when spending on defence stagnated. Even though it has not reached the NATO goal of 2%
of GDP, the defence expenditure’s share in Albania’s total government expenditure increased from 4.5% in 2017 to almost 9% planned for 2022.

2022

Share of GDP 1.67%
Share of total government
expenditure 8.86%

The Albanian defence spending does not deviate significantly from the budget (+- 4%). In fact,it is usually slightly underspent.

 

The Albanian defence budget is the least transparent and detailed in the region, as it shows only several general categories: Planning, Management and Administration, Combat Forces, Military Education, Combat Support and Health Support. Hence, the publicly available information makes the budget structure and the amounts spent on personnel, or on arms and equipment, inconclusive. Data provided to NATO show that the gradual rise of the Albanian defence expenditure can be attributed to small increases in the arms and equipment
spending each year. On the other hand, personnel costs have faced a downward trend since 2017. In 2022, Albania announced the procurement of Javelin anti-tank missiles and Bayraktar drones.

    1. The Albanian budget structure graph was designed using information from the NATO database. Since it could not be derived from the government balance sheets or budgets due to the highly aggregated structure of the documents, it should not be directly compared with the budget structure of other countries in this report.

2023 – Balkan Defence Monitor
Defence Expenditures – Albania

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Serbia-DE-Baner

Defence expeditures – Serbia – 2022

Serbian defence expenditure gradually kept rising since 2016, to experience a sharp increase in 2021. Military spending took up an increasing share of the total expenditure, from 4% in 2017 to 8.6% the past year. The National Assembly usually adopts the budget for the forthcoming year in early December. Balance sheets presenting the actual budget spending were late for 16 years, and the National Assembly retroactively adopted all of them in 2019. The Serbian defence budget undergoes major changes in the course of the year.

2021

Share of GDP 2.42%
Share of total government
expenditure 8.61%

Resources are allocated from budget reserves, predominantly for arms and equipment. In the absence of extraordinary circumstances that would require extreme measures, such radical increases indicate lack of comprehensive defence planning. 

 

Serbia has been applying programme budgeting since 2015. The budget is therefore separated into programmes, presenting budget funds for specific areas as well as different sources of funds. Nevertheless, the budget is not sufficiently disaggregated and detailed, which prevents comprehensive oversight. For instance, arms and expenditure costs are not disaggregated by concrete projects, and it is thus impossible to connect them to individual procurements. As can be seen from the budget structure, the upsurge in the military budget is the result of increasing arms and equipment costs.

* Data for 2021 and 2022 are based on the last changes in the 2021 budgets and the initial budget laws for 2022.

2022 – Balkan Defence Monitor
Defence Expeditures – Serbia

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North-Macedonia-DE-Baner

Defence expenditures – North Macedonia – 2022

North Macedonian defence expenditure increased around 30% between 2017 and 2020. Further increases have been planned after the country became a member of NATO in 2020. Before that, it was spending roughly 1% on the military. Defence expenditure has taken up an increasing portion of the total government spending, from 2.7%in 2017 to 5% that was planned for 2022.

2021

Share of GDP 1.43%
Share of total government
expenditure 4.02%

The Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia usually adopts budget laws in late December, while balance sheets are adopted regularly, with some occasional delays. The MoD regularly publishes semi-annual budget realisation reports.


North Macedonian defence budget changed in 2021, as the country signed the contract to buy Stryker light armoured vehicles. This purchase altered the budget structure in favour of arms and equipment.

Similar to other countries in the region, North Macedonia uses programme budgeting, which is not sufficiently disaggregated. Budgets and balance sheets show highly aggregated sums for different programmes, and sources of funding are presented for the entire MoD budget.

* Data for 2021 and 2022 are based on the last changes in the 2021 budgets and the initial budget laws for 2022.

2022 – Balkan Defence Monitor
Defence Expeditures – North Macedonia

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Montenegro-DE-Baner

Defence expenditures – Montenegro – 2022

Montenegrin defence expenditure experienced a big increase right after the country joined NATO, in 2018 and 2019, caused by the attempt to meet the commitments made to the Alliance. However, it went backx to its earlier level in 2020. Besides the pandemic, the change of government after the 2020 elections and the subsequent
political crisis have certainly also influenced the overall budget and defence planning for the forthcoming period.

2021

Share of GDP 0.90%
Share of total government
expenditure 2.15%

The Parliament adopted the 2021 budget after a delay of more than six months. Earlier, the Government would usually provide a budget proposal to the Parliament one month before the start of the next budget year. The Parliament has never adopted any balance sheet submitted by the government even, though it is legally required to do so.

Montenegro spends the greatest share of its defence budget on personnel. This trend was shortly interrupted by the increase in arms and equipment expenditure in 2018 and 2019, when Montenegro started the procedure to procure Bell helicopters and Oshkosh armored vehicles. Nevertheless, big leaps in defence spending during the year, allocated to arms and equipment, suggest a general lack of long-term defense planning in Montenegro. Even though the Montenegrin budget demonstrates a slightly higher level of transparency than those of most countries in the region (i.e.
it shows individual projects or procurement),it still lacks sufficient transparency and disaggregation.

* Data for 2021 and 2022 are based on the last changes in the 2021 budgets and the initial budget laws for 2022.

2022 – Balkan Defence Monitor
Defence Expeditures – Montenegro

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Croatia-DE-Baner

Defence expenditures – Croatia – 2022

Croatian military expenditure had a sharp increase in 2021, due to the to the contract signed for the purchase of 12 French Dassault Rafale fighter jets at the end of the year. Before that, the expenditure did not experience any large changes, either nominally, or as a military burden. Defence expenditure has taken up around 3.50% of the total governmentexpenditure until 2021.

2021

Share of GDP 1.71%
Share of total government
expenditure 4.30%

The Croatian Parliament regularly adopts the budget for the forthcoming year in late Novemberor early December.
The Parliament also regularly adopts balance sheets and yearly Reports on Defence.

 

The 2021 increase is entirely attributed to the Rafale purchase at the end of the year, which resulted in a rebalance and a 49.7% rise in the planned budget. It should nevertheless be taken into account that the amount can be changed in the final balance sheet for 2021. Prior to that, there were no significant fluctuations during the year, and the initial budget was slightly underspent. Croatia spent the largest portion of its military budget on personnel; however, the above purchasemight change the planned budget structure in favour of arms and equipment.

The Croatian defence budget is the most transparent and disaggregated in the region. Unlike the budgets of other countries, the Croatian budget shows major procurements individually and breaks them down into subcategories.

* Data for 2021 and 2022 are based on the last changes in the 2021 budgets and the initial budget laws for 2022.

2022 – Balkan Defence Monitor
Defence Expeditures –
Croatia

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BiH-Baner

Defence expenditures – Bosnia and Herzegovina – 2022

Military expenditure of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been almost the same in the past five years, both nominally and as the share of GDP.¹

The Parliamentary Assembly has not adopted a federal budget in a timely manner since 2018.
The budget is usually adopted during, or at the end of, the year in to which it pertains. Due to a political crisis, the federal budget for 2021 and 2022 has not been adopted at all. Instead, quarterly decisions on temporary financing are adopted on the basis of the 2020 expenditure. Balance sheets, presenting the actual expenditure, are timely and regularly adopted.

2021

Share of GDP 0.78%

 

Almost 90% of the defence budget in 2021 was spent on personnel due to the political deadlock, which obstructed planning and according allocation of resources. Bosnia and Herzegovina generally spends the largest portion of its defence budget on personnel costs, while the arms and equipment share has not exceeded 4% since 2017.
Budget and balance sheets contain aggregated sums, and sources of funding for rather general categories of expenses. For instance, arms and equipment expenses can be found under the aggregated category Equipment procurement. The documents also include narrative reports with the rationale behind some general categories, i.e. monthly personnel turnover.

* Data for 2021 and 2022 are based on the last changes in the 2021 budgets and the initial budget laws for 2022.

    1.   Due to the complexity of the budget system, it is methodologically challenging to calculate the military expenditure
      of BiH as a share of the total government expenditure, comparable to other countries in the region. Namely, two
      entities have independent budgets that, then, allocate funds upward to the federal budget, which includes the
      defence budget.

2022 – Balkan Defence Monitor
Defence Expeditures –
Bosnia and Herzegovina

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head-de-ALBANIA3

Defence expenditures – Albania – 2022

Albanian defence expenditure has experienced a steady increase since 2017, with the exception of 2020, when spending on defence stagnated.

This stagnation can be attributed to the fight against the pandemic. Even though it has not reached the NATO goal of 2% of GDP, the defence expenditure’s share of Albania’s total government expenditure increased from 4.5% in 2017 to almost 9% that was planned for 2022.

2021

Share of GDP 1.38%
Share of total government
expenditure 6.82%

The Albanian defence budget does not tend to change much in the course of a year, staying within the envisaged budget (+- 4%). In fact, it is usually slightly underspent.

The Albanian defence budget is the least transparent and detailed in the region, as it shows only several gene-ral categories: Planning, Management and Administration, Combat Forces, Military Education, Combat Support and Health Support. Hence, the budget structure and the
amounts spent on personnel, or arms and equipment, remain inconclusive from publicly available information. Data provided to NATO show that the gradual rise of Albanian defence expenditure can be attributed to small increases in the arms and equipment spending each year.

* Data for 2021 and 2022 are based on the last changes in the 2021 budgets and the initial budget laws for 2022.

  1. Albanian budget structure graph is designed with the information from the NATO database. Since it could not be derived from the government balance sheets or budgets due to the highly aggregated stucture of the documents, it should not be directly compared with the budget structure of other countries in this report.

2022 – Balkan Defence Monitor
Defence Expenditures – Albania

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