"No, there won't be any changes. The projected figures will remain in place," Butkevičius told BNS on Tuesday.
According to the projected budget draft, the defense budget should be raised to 923.9 million litas next year, from this year's 870.2 million litas, which accounts for 0.79 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Even with the 50-million-litas increase, the defense budget share of the GDP would remain very similar to the existing one, as the gross domestic product is also expected to swell next year.
NATO member-states have committed to seeking that their defense spending accounts for 2 percent of the GDP.
On the eve of NATO's Chicago summit in May, 11 Lithuanian political parties signed an agreement envisaging “systematic increase of defense spending, with the long-term goal of earmarking 2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) for defense purposes.” No time-frames are specified in the document.
