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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Mauritania
Index
Because of its involvement in the Western Sahara conflict,
Mauritania has spent large sums of money on defense. The 1976
defense budget showed an increase of 32.9 percent over 1975, and
that of 1977 provided a substantial increase over the 1976 level.
In 1977 defense spending consumed 60 percent of the national
budget, and in 1980 military spending was the only sector of the
budget not cut. Commenting on this decision, one senior
Mauritanian official said that no matter what the cost, the
government was intent on maintaining its armed forces in order to
guarantee its independence and national sovereignty.
Military expenditures severely distorted Mauritania's
development. Defense spending diverted funds from rural
development, undermined Mauritania's statist economic policies,
and limited the business community's prosperity. From 1976 to
1978, businesses and government workers alike paid war taxes and
took cuts in pay, and the government faced an increasingly
impoverished population. To raise additional funds for defense,
Haidalla increased the "solidarity contribution"--an unpopular
payment made by salaried workers to the armed forces--from one to
two days' pay a month. In addition, companies paid a special tax
of 2 percent of sales as their contribution to defense.
Ultimately, the unpopular war and its effects on the economy
resulted in a military coup in 1978.
Data as of June 1988
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