"We are a allocating a total of 90.8 million kroner [$8.29 million] for next year's defense budget ... This makes the defense budget in 2024 about 20% more ... than the adopted for the current year," the newspaper quoted the minister as saying.
The newspaper also cited Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store as saying that the additional money will be used for military support for Ukraine as well as improving Norway's defense capabilities.
"With this budget we aim to reach 1.8% of GDP next year ... By doing that, we are ahead of the plan, according to which we should reach 2% in 2026," the finance minister added.
The newspaper reported that Vedum was talking about NATO's program obliging members to use a minimum of 2% of GDP for defense, which Norway promised to do at the organization's summit in Vilnius in July.