Japan Bolsters Defense Spending Towards 2 Percent of GDP

(MENAFN) Japan's defense budget for the fiscal year 2025 is projected to be approximately 9.9 trillion yen (around 70 billion U.S. dollars), representing 1.8 percent of the gross domestic product, as reported by local media on Tuesday.

During a press conference, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani announced that the government plans to allocate roughly 8.5 trillion yen for the defense budget, in addition to 1.5 trillion yen for related expenses in the initial budget for the current fiscal year, which begins this month, according to reports.

The nation aims to reach a defense spending goal of 2 percent of GDP by fiscal 2027, as outlined in its 2022 National Security Strategy, moving away from a previous informal cap of about 1 percent, or approximately 5 trillion yen, in accordance with its war-renouncing Constitution. The proposed increases in defense spending will be based on GDP figures from fiscal 2022.

Nakatani highlighted that these figures "show our efforts to strengthen our defense capabilities are steadily progressing" towards the established numerical target.

Nonetheless, the increase in Japan's military budget has sparked concerns both domestically and internationally. (1 Japanese yen is roughly equivalent to 0.007 USD).

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