The defence budget for the 2022/23 financial year is just short of R50.8 billion (US$ 2.75B.), up from the previous allocation of R49.09 billion. By far the majority of the National Treasury (NT) allocation will go to transfers and subsidies. This broad category includes salaries as cost of employees (CoE) and funding for, among others, Armscor, the Castle of Good Hope, Military Ombud Office and the Reserve Force Council.
CoE is given as R30.9 billion making it the single largest expenditure item in the defence budget at over 60%. Next biggest is landward defence, primarily the responsibility of the SA Army, at R15.6 billion (30%) with the combined air and maritime defence spend totalling R11 billion plus and the SA Military Health Service (SAMHS) receiving R5.5 billion.