PRAGUE, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Republic's defense spending could reach 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2024, a year earlier than previously planned, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said here on Thursday.
According to Fiala, it will not be easy to reach this goal from the point of view of the budget and the Ministry of Defense's capacities.
This year, the ministry manages a budget of 89 billion Czech crowns (3.64 billion U.S. dollars). The Czech News Agency said if 2 percent of GDP is to be spent on defense in 2024, the budget would have to be raised "by some 30 billion crowns next year and again in the following year."
Fiala said that the ministry has suffered from long-term underfunding, which has posed problems to the army's modernization schedule, but that his government has taken steps in recent months to move the process forward.
These include acquisition projects, such as talks with Sweden to acquire CV90 combat vehicles and with the United States on the purchase of F-35 fighter jets.
In its policy statement unveiled in January, the government promised to commit 2 percent of GDP to defense spending by 2025.
As per a 2006 agreement, members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are obliged to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense in order to maintain the alliance's military readiness. (1 crown = 0.041 U.S. dollars) ■
