Controversies related to the Romanian Defense Ministry’s budget

The Defense Ministry’s budget for this year has raised some controversies, as the budget funds allotted to this ministry in the 2017 budget draft were lower compared to last year. The Defense Ministry got little over RON 11 billion (EUR 2.46 billion) from the state budget, less than in 2016, according to the budget draft the Finance Ministry presented on Monday, reports local Hotnews.ro. The sum represents only 1.35% of Romania’s gross domestic product (GDP), although the country has committed to increase military spending to 2% of the GDP. The Defense Ministry commented that its budget for this year was in fact higher than 2% of the GDP as the Government would also allow it to contract RON 7.7 billion (EUR 1.72 billion) worth of loans to finance its investments. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea announced on Tuesday evening that the Defense Ministry would get a budget of 2% of GDP as agreed with NATO partners. editor@romania-insider.com