Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 4, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
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Belgium aims to increase its defence spending to 2% of GDP this year, adding 4 billion euros to meet NATO targets by June 24.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The Belgian government aims to accelerate defence spending by 4 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in the coming months, the Belgian defence ministry said on Tuesday, confirming a report by Belgian newspaper De Tijd that cited Prime Minister Bart De Wever.
The increase should take Belgium's total defence spending to 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) this year, which is the minimum level agreed among NATO allies.
Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken will propose the increase at the next cabinet meeting on Friday, his spokesperson said.
The new Belgium government had said last month it would reach this threshold by 2029. Defence spending is currently around 1.3% of Belgian GDP, and has never reached the 2% level before.
De Wever aims to have the higher spending in place by the NATO summit on June 24, De Tijd reported.
($1 = 0.9535 euros)
(Reporting by Bart Meijer and Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Aidan Lewis)
Currently, Belgium's defence spending is around 1.3% of its GDP.
Belgium aims to reach the 2% defence spending target this year, with plans to have it in place by the NATO summit on June 24.
The proposal for the increase in defence spending will be made by Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken at the next cabinet meeting.
The new Belgian government had previously stated that it would reach the 2% threshold by 2029.
Belgium plans to accelerate defence spending by 4 billion euros, which is approximately $4.2 billion.
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