Czech Prime Minister To Support $63Mln Military Budget Increase

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told reporters on Saturday that he would support a request by Defense Minister Jana Cernochova to add another 1.4 billion crowns ($63 million) to the 2022 defense budget

PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd April, 2022) Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told reporters on Saturday that he would support a request by Defense Minister Jana Cernochova to add another 1.4 billion crowns ($63 million) to the 2022 defense budget.

Earlier in the day, Cernochova asked the finance ministry for an increase in her ministry's budget to buy more military supplies.

"This will be the first concrete step in our intention to increase investments in defense by 48 billion crowns (about $2.1 billion) over the next three years," Fiala said.

According to the prime minister, due to the fact that Czech defense enterprises will also participate in the supply of military materials for the defense ministry, "it will simultaneously support the national industry, the economy as a whole and employment."

In early April, Czech parliament agreed to increase the defense budget by 1 billion crowns (about $45 million) at Cernochova's request due to the conflict in Ukraine, bringing the defense budget for 2022 to 89.1 billion crowns (about $4 billion).