A Brief Analysis of the Defence Expenditure of the Republic of Bulgaria

The complex state of the Bulgarian economy is a prerequisite for the state of defence and security. The low GDP, low production, unemployment, the outflow of young people and professionals abroad are a prerequisite for the few resources allocated to defence. Contrary to all expectations of Bulgarian society defence spending did not only remain the same, but decreased significantly as a percentage of gross domestic product and reached unbelievable level of 1.35 for 2014. Bulgaria and its Armed Forces are facing the challenge of available critical shortage of financial resources. It continues to stand a heavy task to find an optimal balance between available resources and planned defence capabilities. The budget of the Ministry of Defence is insufficient for realization of the planned. According to the Objectives of the Administration for 2015, the Ministry of Defence is needed to support purpose of existing and the gradual development of new defence where the capabilities including modernization of equipment to acquire new abilities and keeping Bulgarian Army with highly motivated and professional people. The Programme for the Development of the Defence Capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria 2020 has been developed pursuant to Article 16, paragraphs 6 and 7 of the Law on Defence and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Programme is aimed at continuing and further developing the process of strategic rethink of the defence policy and the build-up of the defence capabilities that was initiated by the White Paper on Defence and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. This document sets out the parameters for the development as well as the central guidelines for the build-up of the Bulgarian Armed Forces' defence capabilities until 2020 through harnessing the political, economic, technological, information, military and civil resources of our country