Czech Republic Increases Its Defense Budget

Czech Republic spends more money on security

In 2017 the Czech Republic will spend 53 billion CZK on defense, which is 10% more than this year. According to the draft budget agreed in May, the defense budget will increase up to 58 billion CZK in 2018 and to 62 billion in 2019.

As stated in the NATO rules, each member country should spent at least 2% of GDP on defense. Currently, the Czech Republic spends around 1% of GDP on its safety. According to the budget plan, government is going to earmark 1.4% of the GDP for defense by 2020.

The pace of increasing defense expenses in the NATO member countries, however, does not correspond to substantially worsening security situation in the world, according to the chairman of the NATO Military Committee Petr Pavel of the Czech Republic; there is a lack of political will across Europe.

Regarding its military expenses as a share of GDP, Czech Republic is in the last quarter of the NATO member countries (1.04%), between Italy (1.11%) and Hungary (1.01%). 

Military Expenditure in Czech Republic averaged 2686 USD Million from 1993 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 3470 USD Million in 2005 and a record low of 1971 USD Million in 2013.

Czech Republic Military Expenditure 2006 – 2015

Source: tradingeconomics.com

However, NATO Europe’s average expenses for the defense as a share of GDP is only 1.46% The highest expenses for the defense budget as a share of GDP in 2016 has the US (3.61%), followed by Greece (2,38) and the UK (2.21%).

Regarding real military expenses of NATO Europe member countries in 2016, the leader is the UK with 60 million USD, followed by France with 43.5 million USD and Germany with 40.5 million USD.

Czech National Bank reported a number of fake banknotes use has increased

In the first 6 months of 2016, Czech Radio reported, 1,480 fake bills and coins were uncovered, dozens more than in 2015.
Since the beginning of 2016 the bank seized almost 800 fake bills and coins of the Czech currency and some 600 Euro notes. However, the situation is far from 2003, when almost 11,000 fake notes were seized in the Czech Republic.

Passing counterfeit bills is illegal. What is the right thing to do if you suspect a counterfeit in the Czech Republic?

Counterfeit money facts:

  • Always check your cash, when you receive it. Once you walk away from the establishment where you received “funny money”, the only person to blame is yourself.
  • If you suspect to posses a counterfeit banknote, submit it immediately to your local police.
  • If you pass a counterfeit bill, it is considered a felony.
  • Don’t expect any replacement when you submit the money to the authorities.
  • Good news is that it is usually quite easy to make up if the money is right or fake. For example, in 2007 88% of all seized counterfeit money in the Czech Republic were inkjet printed, making them look similar but missing all the protective elements, such as watermark, micro-text and others.

Sources:
Army.cz 2016: http://www.army.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=5760h
CNB 2016: https://www.cnb.cz/cs/o_cnb/zivotni_situace/padelane_penize.html
Finexpert.cz 2008: http://finexpert.e15.cz/jak-poznat-padelanou-bankovku
NATO 2016: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_132934.htm
Praguemonitor 2016: http://www.praguemonitor.com/2016/07/29/czechrep-spend-10-more-defence-2017
Radio.cz 2016: http://radio.cz/en/section/business/national-bank-says-number-of-fake-banknotes-seized-on-rise
Tradingeconomics.com: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/czech-republic/military-expenditure

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