site.btaBulgaria's Estimated Defence Spending at 1.56% of GDP in 2019

Brussels, July 10 (BTA correspondence Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Bulgaria expects to have defence spending equal to 1.56 per cent of the GDP in 2019, according to NATO statistics released a day ahead of the Alliance Summit in Brussels.

Close to a third of this estimated spending will go towards purchase of equipment, making an increase of several fold, and overshooting the average NATO goal for such spending.

This year's defence spending is estimated at close to 1.64 billion leva. This figure does not include the payments to service persons going into retirement.

This has been the largest defence spending by Bulgaria since 2011, according to the NATO figures.

In the 2011-2018 period, the GDP of this country has increased to 61 billion from 52 billion US dollars.

Despite the steady upward trend, Bulgaria's defence spending per capita remains among Europe's lowest in the past seven years.