"There were last-minute changes to secure better funding for our institutions. I can repeat myself and say that the fact that we will allocate 4% of our GDP to defence is really encouraging," Nausėda told reporters in Brussels on Thursday.
The president also criticised the previous government and its public finance plan, which set out a lower GDP share of defence spending and lower contributions from the windfall levy on banks.
"Unfortunately, the previous government was talking a lot about Lithuania’s security but ended up with cutting the defence budget. It is not by the words said, but by the deeds done that we love our country, and I think we are on the right track," Nausėda said.
The state budget for 2025 foresees nearly EUR 2.617 billion to be spent for defence. The Government also decided to increase the borrowing limit for the country’s defence needs by EUR 800 million.
Following some adjustments made by the Government, the budget for 2025 sets out the revenue at EUR 17.98 billion, while budget expenditure will be nearly EUR 23.10 billion.
The general government debt will amount to around 44% of GDP (43.2% in the first draft), while the general government deficit is projected to be 3% of GDP, the ceiling set by the Maastricht convergence criteria.