Currently, the defense budget in Latvia is around 2.2-2.3% of GDP, above NATO's advisory threshold of a minimum spend of 2% of GDP.
As recently as 2014, Latvia spent less than 1% of GDP on defense. However, events in Ukraine allied with a more demanding attitude from the NATO allies who provide considerable sums of troops and equipment to help protect the country provided a wake-up call to both Latvia and Lithuania. Estonia was something of an exception, having consistently spent around 2% of GDP on defense for several years already.
For many years Latvia lagged behind that figure, but a concerted effort meant he target was met in 2018 and maintained ever since.
Additional funding is also planned to gradually strengthen interior affairs bodies by increasing the salaries of police officers, border guards and fire and rescue workers, the Minister of the Interior Marija Golubeva said.
Raivis Dzintars, the head of the nationalist National Alliance political grouping, said that at the meeting of the coalition representatives on Monday, the most important issues, including the increase of the defense budget, were agreed with a large consensus.
