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YEREVAN, MARCH 5, ARMENPRESS. The Chinese authorities plan to increase the national defense expenditures by 7.5%, setting at 1.19 trillion yuan ($177.49 billion),according to a budget report issued at the opening of the country’s annual meeting of parliament today, Reuters reports.
The 2019 defense spending increase comes as China’s economic growth target for the year was set at 6.0 to 6.5 percent.
Last year, defense spending was set to increase 8.1 percent, compared to a 7 percent rise in 2017, and 7.6 percent in 2016. The five years before that had seen double-digit increases.
China’s defense spending ranks as the world’s second largest, lagging behind the United States.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan