NATO defense expenses will rise noticeably in 2016
Due to the strained relations with Russia and the fight against international terrorism, the defense spending of most of the NATO member states will grow significantly in 2016. The headquarters of NATO in Brussels reported on Monday, July 4 that the general increase in military spending of all allied nations, with the exception of the US and Canada, will reach almost 3%.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the picture of defense spending in NATO countries is mixed, as some of them increase it and others – on the contrary – reduce defense spending. However, according to the secretary general, the overall trend is moving “in the right direction.” A year earlier, the European NATO states increased military spending in total by 0.8% for the first time since the end of the Cold War.
In Germany, defense spending in 2016 remains at the level of the two previous years and constitutes 1.19% of the total GDP. In Europe, the biggest increase in military spending in relation to GDP is shown by Greece (2.38%), the UK (2.21%), Estonia (2.16%) and Poland (2%). US defense spending will reach 3.61% of GDP, which corresponds to $664 billion. In Germany, the amount of military spending is getting close to $41 billion.
At the NATO summit in Wales in September 2014, it was decided to increase the size of the spending on defense by the member countries of the block to 2 percent of their respective GDPs.