Norway Boosts Defense Spending Amid Regional Tensions

Copenhagen (Denmark), May 2 (AP) The Norwegian centre-left government said on Thursday that it wants to add 7 billion kroner (USD 630 million) to the Scandinavian country's armed forces over the next 12 years amid increased tensions in the region.

The announcement came on top of plans announced last month of a “historic increase” of 600 billion kroner (USD 54 billion) in the oil-rich country's defence budget over the same period.

“We must increase the operational capability of the Armed Forces,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, citing heightened tensions in the region as the reason for the boost.

Gahr Store said on Thursday that the combined budget increase meant that Norway would be able to reach NATO's goal of military spending of 2 per cent of each member country's GDP this year.

In 2024, the Scandinavian country's defence budget is expected to increase to 104 billion kroner (USD 9.4 billion).

Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum called it “a strong growth” and said it was “a necessary investment to strengthen our freedom”.

Gahr Store heads a coalition that includes his own social democratic Labour party and the left-leaning Centre Party. He is expected to win support for the proposal in the 169-seat Storting assembly. No date for a vote was set.

On Tuesday, party leaders in the Norwegian parliament announced that the Scandinavian country was donating 7 billion kroner to Ukraine as part of a five-year support package. That comes on top of the 75 billion kroner (USD 6.8 billion) which Norway already has said it will donate, making it one of the world's biggest donors to war-torn Ukraine.