Finland to boost defence spending to NATO's 2% target by 2030, PM says

Finnish defence spending will rise to the NATO-required 2% of GDP by 2030, said Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. 

“Finland must prepare to allocate about four billion more for defence in the late 20s and early 30s. This means that we should already now give the Defence Forces the right to plan and order materials at the level of 2 per cent (of GDP),” Orpo said, Caliber.Az reports, citing Finnish media.  

According to the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper, Finland's defence spending in 2024 is 2.3 per cent of GDP, or €6.5 billion, spending is at a high level because of the purchase of 64 F-35 fighter jets. As the Ministry of Defence said, spending will start falling from 2024 to 1.99% of GDP in 2027.

Notably, Finland's economy has been in recession since last year, hit by high interest rates and the fallout from neighbouring Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the government urged reforms to boost productivity and cut the deficit. Orpo's coalition introduced labour market reforms and cuts to social welfare that angered labour unions, which launched widespread strikes in March and April.

In September 2024, Finland's ruling centre-right coalition announced plans to spend more on NATO membership, defence and security in 2025, while scaling back on welfare spending to tame the Nordic country's fiscal deficit. 

By Khagan Isayev