Lithuania’s governing parties pledge to keep defence spending at 5% of GDP

Leaders of Lithuania’s governing parties have not yet decided how much funding to allocate to defence in next year’s budget but say the country will remain in the so-called 5% of GDP club, LRT reported.

Lithuania has budgeted 5.38% of gross domestic product for defence this year. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said the exact figure for next year, including any amount after the decimal point, could not yet be given.

“Our defence and defence financing will allow us to remain in the five-percent club,” Sinkevičius told reporters on Monday after a meeting at the Government with the leaders of the Democrats and the Farmers and Greens. “What the figure will be, and whether there will be anything after the decimal point, cannot really be answered at the moment.”

Virginijus Sinkevičius, leader of the Union of Democrats ‘For Lithuania’, said the country should maintain at least 5% of GDP in defence funding. He said any decision to go beyond that should be linked to the army’s needs and projects that can be implemented.

Army Commander Raimundas Vaikšnoras told BNS in an interview last week that next year’s defence budget should provide the same level of funding as this year, or possibly more, to maintain the current pace of capability development.

Aurelijus Veryga, chairman of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, said 5% of GDP should be sufficient as the economy continues to grow. He noted that the absolute amount of funding would not decrease even if the percentage remained unchanged.