Spain to raise defence spending by almost 8%

The Spanish cabinet has set a defence budget for 2022 of EUR10.15 billion (USD11.75 billion): 7.8% higher than the current year's EUR9.4 billion.

While a fuller breakdown of spending is set to be released to parliament later this autumn, the cabinet has said a further EUR939 million has been earmarked for military research and development (R&D). In the past that section has been bundled up with civil R&D projects and handled by the Ministry of Science. It represents a rise of 9.1% on the 2021 military part of the spend.

Figures released by the government show that “ordinary” expenditure by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) – mainly spent on personnel costs – will account for EUR7.06 billion of the total: a rise of 3.4%.

Approximately EUR2.3 billion will be available for leading weapon programmes: a rise of 21%.

The government also said the MoD will receive EUR25 million from European Union funding. Defence Minister Margarita Robles promised last year that this will be spent on areas such as military hospitals and upgrading living conditions for forces personnel, especially for schools and improving overseas communication networks.