Sweden parliament backs $31 billion borrowing to boost defence

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Sweden's government said on Thursday all parties in parliament have agreed to back its plan to invest heavily in the rearmament of the country's civil and military defence, and to pay for it with loans of up to 300 billion Swedish crowns ($31 billion).

"Sweden is in a very serious security situation," Defence Minster Pal Jonson told a press conference. "It is therefore very good that we can present a broad and long-term political agreement on very big defence investments in the coming years."

The parties have been negotiating the defence deal in recent months.

Under the new defence agreement, Sweden plans to raise military defence spend to 3.5% of GDP by 2032 at the latest, Jonson said.

($1 = 9.6910 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Simon Johnson, editing by Terje Solsvik)