Czech Upper House Approves Bill On Spending 2% Of GDP On Defense Per Year - Reports

PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st June, 2023) The Czech upper house on Wednesday approved by a majority of votes a bill that provides for the allocation of at least 2% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to defense needs per year, Czech media reported.

The draft law submitted to the country's parliament by the cabinet of ministers was approved by 65 out of 73 present members of the upper house, Czech news portal Lidovsky specified. Prior to this, the bill was also approved by the lower house of the Czech parliament on April 21.

The new law scheduled to come into force from July 2023 will now be taken into account in the preparation of the country's state budget for 2024, the report said. Therefore, the Czech Defense Ministry's 2024 budget is expected to increase by nearly 21.5 billion koruny ($967 million) to around 151.5 billion koruny.