Next year's budget of the Croatian Defence Ministry is expected to be nearly 300 million kuna (€40 million) higher than this year's, which will be used to improve the status and entitlements of military personnel, modernisation, and equipment.

At its meeting on Thursday, the government adopted the decision on the budget framework for 2023-2025, proposing that the Defence Ministry budget be increased by 298 million kuna to 7.7 billion kuna (€1.02 billion). Projections for 2024 and 2025 exceed 8 billion kuna (€1.06 billion).

“The Croatian government continues to invest in defence. With this increase, in addition to improving the status and entitlements of Croatian Army personnel, the priority is modernisation and equipment, and we will continue working on it,” Defence Minister Mario Banozic said.

The Defence Ministry budget was increased to 7.56 billion kuna (€1 billion) in May, the largest increase since the 1991-1995 War. The largest allocations for equipment and modernisation were for the multi-purpose fighter jet and Bradley infantry fighting vehicle projects.