2024-02-18 13:20:43
Germany can increase defense spending to 3.5% of GDP, increasing investments to compensate for years of neglect of the defense industry, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.
As Day.Az reports with reference to Prime, Bloomberg writes about this.
“NATO’s target of 2% of GDP for defense may only be a ‘starting point’, but European countries need more capable armed forces and an expanded presence around the world,” the minister said during a debate at the Munich Security Conference.
According to the minister, this will require not only “significant cash investments”, but also an increase in the production capacity of defense enterprises, but he added that finding sufficient funds for this will not be easy.
“If everything goes according to plan, then we can reach 3% or maybe even 3.5% (of GDP – editor’s note), everything will depend on what is happening in the world and on the state of our economy,” he said.
The publication notes that NATO allies had criticized Germany for years for not spending more on defense until Chancellor Olaf Scholz heralded a “historic turning point” with the launch of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.
Earlier, during a speech in Munich, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised that the country would continue to meet NATO spending obligations “in the 2020s, 2030s and beyond.”
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