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Thursday, January 12, 2017

Hungary to boost defence spending to 2 percent of GDP

[Hungarian Defence Minister Simicsko speaks during an interview with Reuters in Budapest]By Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary will increase its defence spending gradually to 2 percent of its economic output by 2026 from 0.95 percent now, Defence Minister Istvan Simicsko said on Thursday. Hungary, which joined NATO in 1998, spends less on defence than other eastern European members Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. Although military spending among NATO members has increased because of Russia's annexation of Crimea and the crisis in Ukraine, only Britain, Poland, Greece and Estonia meet the goal of spending 2 percent of gross domestic product on defence.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com