Lithuania’s defence spending nearing 2% of GDP – PM

“The government has been consistently increasing funding for defence over the last few years and is restoring its pre-crisis military capabilities and modernizing its weaponry. All of that was discussed in more detail, but this information is not published. We are also moving fast towards a commitment Lithuania has never met, to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense,” Butkevičius said in an interview with LRT on Tuesday morning. The 2-percent-GDP mark for defense spending is considered to be the minimum defense spending level required by NATO.

On Monday, the State Defence Council decided that at least an additional €150 million should be allocated to national defence in 2017, compared to the €575 million allocated in 2016.

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Lithuania has been consistently increasing its defence spending in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Lithuanian political parties have agreed to meet the 2 percent GDP defence commitment by 2020, but this target might be reached earlier.

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