The Swedish Government will in its upcoming budget bill for 2026 increase funds for the armed forces by SEK26.6 billion ($2.87 billion), Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday.
"We are now taking the next big step in the equipping of the Swedish defence," he told a news conference. "We have increased the defence budget by SEK100 billion since 2022. It is unprecedented unless you go back to the very worst days of the Cold War," he said.
The conservative government coalition, which holds a majority in parliament, is due to submit its budget bill on September 22.
The hike represents an 18 per cent increase compared to the 2025 budget and will take Sweden's defence spending to 2.8 per cent of GDP in 2026, bringing it closer to the new NATO target of 3.5 per cent of GDP for core defence spending. The government expects the spending to hit 3.1 per cent in 2028.
The increased funds will be spent on new materiel, such as air defence, rocket artillery, combat ships, and tactical transport planes. It will also be used to hike salaries for officers and conscripts.
(Reporting by Johan Ahlander, Anna Ringstrom and Essi Lehto, editing by Louise Rasmussen, Aidan Lewis)
