site.btaBulgaria Spends USD 599 Mln on Defence in 2015 - NATO Report

Bulgaria Spends USD 599 Mln on Defence in 2015 - NATO Report

Brussels, January 29 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Bulgaria's defence expenditures in 2015 totalled 599 million US dollars at current prices and exchange rates, which was the smallest amount reported by the country since 2008, according to data unveiled by NATO on Friday concerning the defence spending of every NATO country. In 2008, Bulgaria's defence expenditures stood at 1.162 billion dollars.

The amount in 2015 was 1.2 per cent of the country's GDP. The report notes that Bulgaria's per-capita GDP increased gradually to 7,400 dollars in 2015 from 6,800 dollars in 2008.

Between 2014 and 2015, Bulgaria's military personnel increased by 2,000 to 27,000, the report shows.

Spending on equipment accounted for 3.2 per cent of Bulgaria's total defence expenditures in 2015, compared with 1.0 per cent in 2014. Another 71.8 per cent was spent on personnel, compared with 72.8 per cent in 2014 and 44.9 per cent in 2008. The share of infrastructure spending rose to 1.7 per cent in 2015 from 0.6 per cent in 2014 (in 2008 it was 4.3 per cent).

NATO's total defence expenditures in 2015 amounted to 900.473 billion dollars, with the United States contributing more than two-thirds of it (649.931 billion dollars).