Military spending by the Dominican Republic rose by 14% in 2023 in response to worsening gang violence in neighboring Haiti. The Dominican Republic’s military spending has risen steeply since 2021, when the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse threw Haiti into a worse crisis than in previous years.
New data on the rising military costs the Dominican Republic has had to assume was shared in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), presented on 21 April 2024 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The SIPRI report revealed that the Dominican Republic increased its military spending by 14% in 2023 due to the worsening of gang violence in Haiti.
“The use of the military to quell gang violence has been a growing trend in the region for years, as governments are unable to solve the problem with conventional means or prefer immediate and often more violent responses,” explains the SIPRI.
Over the last seven years, the military budget in the Dominican Republic has increased from US$398.5 million to nearly US$1 billion in 2023 (US$988.7 million), or 0.7% of GDP.
The budgets for land, air and maritime defense expenditures which were increased, in accordance with the military command, allowed the Dominican Armed Forces to modernize their equipment, improve the training of staff and further guarantee the defense of sovereignty and national security.
The Army reports spending around US$1 million per day for surveillance and security of the land border.
Haiti Libre reports that over the past two years, defense spending in the Dominican Republic at US$988.7 million in 2023, is equal to 41% of Haiti’s national budget. The military has received new ground equipment, cutting-edge technology and two fleets of aircraft to the Air Force.
In addition to military spending, the DR also bears the high cost of education for Haitians, with more than 170,000 Haitians enrolled for free in Dominican public schools. Dominican public hospitals spend upwards of 35% of the births at public hospitals are to Haitian migrants.
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Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Haiti Libre
23 April 2024