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Germany to Lift Defense Budget to Record, Meeting NATO Target

  • Military spending to rise to more than €70 billion next year
  • Scholz’s cabinet due to approve 2024 finance plan on Wednesday
A Germany army main battle tank Leopard 2A6. 

A Germany army main battle tank Leopard 2A6. 

Photographer: Petras Malukas/AFP/Getty Images

Germany will increase its defense budget to a record amount next year, helping Europe’s biggest economy meet a NATO target of spending at least 2% of output annually on the military.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius will be allocated €51.8 billion ($56.4 billion) in his regular budget, €1.7 billion more than this year, according to the 2024 federal financing plan distributed Monday by the government in Berlin. An additional €19.2 billion from a special fund set up immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine will lift total military investment to €71 billion, hitting the NATO goal, the plan showed.