The Ministry of National Defence of Tunisia, is mainly tasked with the implementation of military policy, the preservation of the integrity of national territory and the security of the nation and its citizens, as well as relieving the effects of natural disasters. It therefore has, not only an organisational and administrative role, but also is responsible for logistics and personnel related tasks.
The Tunisian Armed Forces, consist of the Tunisian Army (about 41,000 people), Navy (about 5,000 people) and Air Force (4,000 people).
In 2015, Tunisia was responsible for the second highest growth –after Iran- in defence expenditure, in the MENA region.
More specifically, this change was reflected in the increased 2.2% of the GDP, allocated as the defence budget, equal to about $1.1 billion (See chart below). This amount, was more than double compared to that of ten years ago (2005), reflecting the ‘fragile’ diplomatic environment created by its neighbouring countries.
During the same decade (2005-2015), Tunisia imported $272 million of defence equipment from Germany, US and Turkey.
The main military imports included Ships (61.54%), Aircraft (33.7%) and Armoured Vehicles (3.3%).