Military budget of Croatia has almost doubled since 2017, largely due to the procurement of 12 French Dassault Rafale fighter jets in 2021. Projections for 2024 and 2025 suggest steady further increase, partly attributed to procurements of Bradley armoured vehicles and Black Hawk helicopters from the USA. Defence expenditure as a percentage of total government expenditure ranges around 3.5 percent, albeit it surpassed 4 percent in 2021 and 2022.
2023
Share of GDP 1,45%
Share of total government
expenditure 3,60%
The Parliament regularly adopts budgets for the upcoming year, usually in November. Balance sheets and yearly Reports on defence are also regularly adopted by the Parliament, however the last one adopted was the Report for 2021, while the Report for 2022 is still in procedure, being submitted by the Government later than usual.
In 2021 there was a shift in defence budget structure in favour of arms and equipment, attributed to the Rafale purchase which still takes the largest portion of capital expenditure. Modernisation of the army foresees several other purchases from the US, such as Patria armoured vehicles and Javelin anti-tank guided missile system, confirming this trend. Since 2021, spending on personnel ranges around 42 percent. Despite changes in budget display since 2023, making the budget slightly less disaggregated and transparent, Croatian defence budget is at the top in the region when it comes to these categories. It shows to specific procurements broken down into subcategories.
