Slovenia has increased defence spending but remains one of the NATO countries with the lowest spending as a share of GDP, a new report released by the alliance on Tuesday reads.
Slovenia allocated €734 million for the defence at current prices, up from €640 million in the year before, according to the report.
This accounts for 1.26% of the country’s GDP but it marks only a slight improvement from 1.24% of GDP in 2021 given the brisk GDP growth recorded last year.
However, the country exceeded the target of 20% of the defence budget spent on investment in equipment, with its share going up to 21.3% from 15.7% in the year before.
Slovenia invested 3.1% of the defence budget in infrastructure and 22.3% in joint operations. The bulk of the budget, 53.3% was spent on the wages of defence system personnel.
The report came just as the National Assembly was discussing a resolution on the development of the Slovenian Armed Forces until 2040 under which Slovenia is to spend 2% of its GDP on defence by 2030. The resolution is broadly supported and is expected to be passed on 22 March.
(Zlatko Midžić | sta.si)
Source: euractiv.com
