“Stoltenberg Reveals Only 7 Out of 30 NATO Nations Have Raised Defense Spending to 2% of GDP”

Seven out of 30 NATO member countries have reached the 2% GDP target for defense spending in 2022, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. This is one country less than in 2021. The North Atlantic Alliance initially expected that two more countries would achieve this goal in 2022, Mr. Stoltenberg said.

“But since the GDP of the two (countries participating in the alliance.— “uh”) grew more than expected, the two members of the alliance, which we expected to be at 2%, are now slightly below 2%, ”the alliance’s secretary general said at a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels (quoted by Reuters) .

At the end of 2021, it was assumed that each country of the alliance would bring its defense spending to 3% of GDP by 2024, reported TASS. In 2021, the combined defense spending of all 30 NATO nations reached $1.174 trillion. In 2020, NATO’s total military spending increased by 3.5% to $1.03 trillion.

In December, the alliance set the 2023 military budget at €1.96 billion, up 25.8% from 2022. NATO countries have agreed to increase the budget because of the conflict in Ukraine.

Follow the situation in Ukraine in the online broadcast “Kommersant”.

Maria Fedotova