The draft budget does not include the costs of future NATO membership, as these will be discussed later in the budget preparations.

Extra resources for the Defence Forces to strengthen defence capability
The Defence Forces’ operating appropriations would increase by EUR 179 million, largely due to a general increase addressing the changes in the operating environment, pay adjustments, and price and cost level adjustments. 

The appropriation increase would reinforce Finland’s defence capability by adding 500 person-years to the Defence Forces personnel capacity in the next few years, by increasing the number of reservists called up for refresher training exercises by approximately 10,000 people, and by improving the level of materiel maintenance.

Defence budget focus on materiel procurement and maintenance
The draft budget has EUR 1.6 billion allocated to defence materiel procurement, representing a EUR 765 million increase on the ordinary 2022 budget. Most of the increase would be allocated to improving the defence capability with materiel to satisfy operational demands. In addition to cost-level adjustments, the appropriation is affected by changes in the timing of expenditure included in the previous supplementary budgets.

The draft budget contains two new procurement authorisations. An authorisation of EUR 559 million is proposed for defence materiel acquisitions with expenditure to be incurred between 2023 and 2032. The intended uses include the acquisition of high-altitude capability of ground-based air defence, and development of the application of fire by the Army and the mobility of troops. A procurement authorisation of EUR 113 million is proposed for the Defence Forces for acquiring spare parts and concluding system service and maintenance agreements for 2023–2028.

Support for conscript finances
The draft budget includes a proposal to improve the financial benefits of conscripts. The improvement would address the rising living costs and minimise any disruptions to the conscript service also from a financial point of view.

Military crisis management to continue to focus on Lebanon and Iraq
EUR 65 million in appropriations is proposed for equipment needs and administrative expenses arising from military crisis management. The maintenance expenses of Finnish crisis management contingents are included in the appropriations of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. A new procurement authorisation of EUR 20 million is proposed for military crisis management in 2023–2026 to aquire supplementary and replacement equipment. It is estimated that the combined strength of crisis management troops will be at most 400 person-years. 

Inquiries:
Kristiina Olsson, Director of Finance, Ministry of Defence, tel. +358 295 140 220
Heikki Kuru, Senior Specialist, Ministry of Defence, tel. + 358 295 140 007