Romania, first in the region for increasing defense budget

Romania has come up with the highest growth in defense spending in Eastern Europe, after the US president Donald Trump said that the support of the US military might depend on allocating 2% of GDP on the defense budget as part of the NATO commitments. Romania has increased the spending on defense from 1.5% of the GDP to 2% of the GDP. The proximity to Russia and Trump’s warnings have determined the countries in Eastern Europe to increase their defense budgets, according to Bloomberg, reports local Economica.net. In Lithuania, the defense budget has gone up by over 0.3 percentage points of the GDP this year to 1.8% of GDP, whereas in Latvia the defense budget has risen by almost 0.2pp to 1.7% of the GDP. Romania's estimated GDP for this year is about RON 815 billion (EUR 180.5 billion), and the budget for defense amounts to some EUR 3.6 billion. editor@romania-insider.com