Another NATO Country Increased Defense Spending.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur announced an increase in defense spending to 5% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

In July, Estonia and other NATO member countries plan to strengthen their military capabilities, responding to new NATO defense plans. According to Pevkur, this is necessary to provide countries with new military capabilities.

"[The need for money] fluctuates in the sense that in some years more money is needed, because, for example, we need to create certain capabilities by 2039, but to do that, money will be needed already in 2037. And then there will be a sharp jump in spending. But on average, we could spend around 4% of GDP on national defense to meet these NATO defense plans," Pevkur noted.

If Estonia follows only NATO's plans, defense spending could rise to 5% of GDP over the coming years.

"If we want to consider only what is written in the plans, then I would risk assuming, [...] that in the long term, defense spending should be approximately in the range of 4.5-5% of GDP to have all necessary capabilities," Pevkur said.

With the current defense budget of 1.34 billion euros, this would mean an increase in defense spending by 250-500 million euros per year.

Source: ERR