Headlines
Portugal to meet 2% defence spending target ahead of schedule in 2025
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 5, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 5, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Portugal plans to achieve 2% GDP defence spending by 2025, four years ahead of schedule, aiming to boost national defence and economic growth.
LISBON (Reuters) -Portugal expects to increase its defence spending to 2% of gross domestic product this year, four years ahead of schedule, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said on Thursday.
Among the 32 members of NATO, Portugal is one of the countries with the lowest defence spending as a share of its economic output, with the government estimating that it stood at 4.48 billion euros ($5.12 billion) in 2024, or 1.58% of GDP.
Portugal previously expected to reach the current NATO target of 2% of gross domestic product by the end of 2029.
Speaking at his inauguration as the country's re-elected prime minister, Montenegro said the new centre-right government "will in the coming days finalise a plan" for defence investment to be developed over several years.
"I will present at the next NATO Summit the anticipation of the 2% target, if possible already in 2025, with a realistic plan that will not jeopardise the social functions (of the state) and the balance of the budget," he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said NATO allies should boost investment in defence to 5% of GDP and this new target will be a key discussion during the summit scheduled for June 24-25.
Montenegro said the new investments will be developed by "national defence industries and related activities," as the government wants to "take advantage of this increased investment to stimulate economic growth."
($1 = 0.8743 euros)
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Pietro Lombardi and Paul Simao)
Portugal expects to increase its defence spending to 2% of GDP this year, four years ahead of schedule, in 2025.
Portugal previously expected to reach the NATO target of 2% of GDP by the end of 2029.
The new investments will be developed by national defence industries and related activities, aiming to stimulate economic growth.
U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that NATO allies should boost investment in defence to 5% of GDP.
The upcoming NATO Summit scheduled for June 24-25 will be a key discussion point for the new defence spending target.
Explore more articles in the Headlines category
