Szczurek: Extra funds for defense may be found next year
23:11
Poland may find extra funds for defense in 2015, Finance Minister Mateusz Szczurek told radio station RMF FM on Monday. He made clear that cuts would have to be made in other budget areas, but declined to specify them.
“It is my duty to keep expenses within limits, to ensure that public finances are in place,” Szczurek said. “We have obligations towards the European Union, as well as obligations towards common sense, which demand that total expenses be limited to just over 3.5 percent of the GDP over the next three years.”
The minister said that the government would discuss next year's budget in the next three months and that is when decisions may be made. He did not rule out imposing an extra tax to finance defense if the international environment would be unfavorable.
President Bronisław Komorowski said last week than Poland may in the future raise the obligatory level of expenditures on defense from 1.95 percent to 2 percent of the GDP.
