African Governments Budget USD 426.31 Million for Space Programmes in 2025, Space in Africa Report Shows
Space in Africa, a boutique consulting and media firm providing data-driven insights for businesses and decision-makers to succeed in the African space industry, has released the 2025 African Space Budget Report. The Report aggregates annual budgets by African governments for space programmes and explores the factors influencing budgetary decisions, including technological priorities and national strategic objectives.
In 2025, African nations continued to invest in space programmes to advance their national agendas. The total budget allocated for space-related activities reached USD 426.31 million, covering statutory allocations for national space programmes and contributions from the African Union to support the newly established African Space Agency. This marks a 7.73% decrease compared to the USD 462.01 million allocated in 2024.
Several factors contributed to this decline, including economic challenges, shifting national priorities, and fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. While some countries maintained or slightly increased their space budgets in local currencies, the depreciation of their national currencies against the US dollar led to lower allocations in dollar terms. For example, Nigeria approved a 2025 space budget of NGN 94.30 billion (USD 61.30 million), reflecting a 47.5% increase from the previous year’s NGN 50.37 billion. However, currency devaluation translated to a lower USD 48.30 million, down from USD 87.23 million in 2024. Similar trends were observed in many other African countries.
Another key factor behind the budget reduction is the completion of major space infrastructure projects (or the relaxation of budgetary allocation to some projects), leading to decreased allocations as these countries shift from construction to operational phases. Additionally, changes in government priorities and the reallocation of funds to other national needs have further influenced budgetary decisions.
“Many countries are shifting away from the traditional funding model for their space programmes. While their annual budgets for space agencies remain modest, they are increasingly allocating additional funds to major infrastructure projects outside their regular yearly funding. For example, in recent years, Angola’s space budget has consistently been under USD 5 million annually. However, in January 2025, the country signed a EUR 225 million agreement to develop ANGEO-1, a high-resolution Earth observation satellite. This illustrates the new funding approach: even though annual allocations to space agencies may appear reduced, nations are actually investing more, just through a different financial model,” says Mustapha Iderawumi, Senior Analyst at Space in Africa and the report’s lead author.
Despite these fluctuations, space budgets across Africa generally focus on three primary areas: operational and administrative costs to sustain national space programmes, and small-medium scale projects to develop space-based solutions utilising Earth Observation, satellite communications, and astronomy infrastructures. Third is large-scale infrastructure investments in key projects such as satellite development, ground stations, telescope construction, Manufacturing, Assembly, Integration, and Testing (MAIT) facilities, and other research and development initiatives, which follow a trend of budgetary allocation within annual budgets usually spread across multiple years.
Most of the time, agencies receive supplementary allocations to build these projects. In addition, most countries involved with large-scale projects often secure funding through grants or loans from Export-Import Banks (EXIM Banks), specialised financial institutions that support countries’ export and import activities, functioning as Export Credit Agencies (ECAs). For instance, the Angolan government obtained a loan from Russia’s VTB Bank to build Angosat-1, which RKK Energia developed. China Eximbank and the Government of Nigeria signed a USD 200 million preferential buyer’s credit agreement to finance NigComSat-1. The Egyptian government secured a loan from the French Bpifrance to build its communication satellite, TIBA-1, which was contracted to Thales Alenia Space.
In 2025, South Africa maintained its status as the largest investor in space, a position it has held in recent times, deepening government financing to develop several aspects of its space programme, including funding for Earth Observation, Space Operation and Space Science, including operating the Space Weather Centre, Astronomy Research and Development, Square Kilometre Array, and MeerKAT.
The 2025 African Space Budget Report guides decision-makers, investors, researchers, and industry experts on navigating Africa’s public spending on space, policy frameworks, and country-specific emerging trends. The report’s government outlook highlights key opportunities and challenges.
Learn more about the report here.
About Space in Africa
Space in Africa (SiA) is a boutique consulting and media firm that provides data-driven insights for businesses and decision-makers to succeed in the African space industry. SiA offers strategic consulting, market research and analytics, and media and PR services with an in-depth focus on the African space industry. Our domain focus enables us to build relationships, offer our clients market-inspired expertise, and support them in succeeding in Africa.
We manage the largest platforms, sharing industry activities and connecting stakeholders in the African space ecosystem. These platforms include news, analysis, opportunities, the African Space Data Hub and the NewSpace Africa Conference – the largest gathering of decision-makers and foreign partners interested in the African space economy. We have built upon these platforms to create tailored strategies and market research for companies and institutions interested in the African space industry. We offer services to clients from across all continents, and our resources are continually used in over 120 countries.