Newspaper: Britain increases defense spending by more than one billion pounds

Britain will increase defense spending by more than 1 billion pounds ($1.21 billion) to avoid a decline in real value over the next two years, the Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday.

The newspaper said Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce the increase when he unveils his budget in the spring.

The newspaper reported that military experts estimate that the budget of the Ministry of Defense in 2024 and 2025 should rise to 50.1 billion pounds from 48.6 billion pounds to avoid a decline in real value, with inflation continuing at a rate of more than 10 percent.

With the fall budget announcement last month, Hunt said the government recognized the need to increase defense spending and confirmed it would keep the budget at at least 2 percent of gross domestic product, in line with its commitment as a NATO member.

"We have one of the largest defense budgets in Europe and in 2020 we announced the biggest increase in defense spending since the Cold War," a government spokesman told Reuters.

The spokesman added that any increase in defense spending would be considered as part of the upcoming Integrated Review in the spring, a document that sets out Britain's defence, security and foreign policy priorities.

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