France to increase defense spending by €1.7bn a year until 2022 – ministry

France’s defense budget will increase by €1.7 billion a year between 2019 and 2022, the Armed Forces Ministry said on Thursday. It confirmed spending commitments outlined by President Emmanuel Macron last year, Reuters said. From 2023, the annual increase is set to rise to €3 billion a year so that France can hit its NATO-agreed target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense by 2025.