Belarus’ military expenditures are growing in local budgets for 2024
In 2023, the total expenditure of all 135 local budgets on national defense was $12,652,528.
In January-February, decisions of local councils of deputies on the approval of budgets for 2024 are published. Only a small part of these documents have been published so far, but there is a pattern of increasing expenditures.
The data in the column “National Defense. Provision of mobilization and its preparations” compared to 2022 and 2023:
- Budget for Brest region:
2022 – 1,392,400 BYN; 2023 – 1,436,407 BYN (expenditures were reduced during the year); 2024 – 1,031,866 BYN ($327,597); Decrease compared to 2022/2023.
- Budget for Minsk region:
2022 – 1,110,852 BYN; 2023 – 1,420,701 BYN (expenditures were reduced during the year); 2024 – 1,334,561 BYN ($423,697); Decrease compared to 2023.
- Budget for Minsk city:
2022 – 1,587,427 BYN; 2023 – 1,866,532.99 BYN (expenditures were reduced during the year); 2024 – 2,540,906 BYN ($806,688); Increase compared to 2022/2023.
- Budget for Homiel region:
2022 – 2,301,853 BYN; 2023 – 2,837,769 BYN (increased to 3,354,421 during the year); 2024 – 5,028,341 BYN ($1,596,400); Increase compared to 2022/2023.
- Budget for Vitsiebsk region:
2022 – 1,752,556 BYN; 2023 – 1,832,051 BYN (increased to 2,199,019 during the year); 2024 – 3,144,600 BYN ($998,349); Increase compared to 2022/2023.
National defense expenditures increased in the budgets of Homiel and Vitsiebsk regions, and in Minsk city. Expenditures decreased in the budgets of Brest and Minsk regions.
In 2023, the total expenditure of all 135 local budgets on national defense was 36,322,880 BYN / $12,652,528. This is 2.4 times more than in 2022. The growth was achieved due to a significant increase in expenditures in a small number of budgets (mainly in Brest region).
When analyzing the expenditures of local budgets on national defense, we should take into account inflation and increase in the defense budget for 2024.