Soldiers of the Indonesian Military. (Photo: tempo.co)Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia is working to modernise its defence system in order to strengthen the country’s defence capabilities.
Indonesia’s current defence budget accounts for 1.1 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), up from allocations of 0.98 percent in 2015 and 0.79 percent in 2014, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in a meeting at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on February 23.
Achieving the targeted economic growth of 6 percent in 2016 will allow Indonesia’s defence budget to increase to 1.5 percent of GDP, worth about 250 trillion IDR (18.66 billion USD), he added.
The president noted that it is a large amount of money so that there should be proper and detailed planning for the budget allocation from the beginning.
With the budget increase, Widodo hopes that the country’s military will be prepared to counter any threats to its territory in the future.
To build a professional and respected military, Indonesia should also enhance its production of defence equipment, he stressed.- VNA
