Poland gets $4B US loan for defense purchases, minister says

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Polish service members conduct a simulated assault on a building during a NATO training exercise, 2015. (NATO photo via Flickr)

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland signed a $4 billion loan under the United States' Foreign Military Financing program that will help finance the transformation of its armed forces, the Polish defence minister said on Thursday.

"This is another proof of enormous trust and strong alliance between Poland and the United States of America," Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz posted on X.

Kosiniak-Kamysz said that in total the United States has provided Poland with over $11 billion to finance armament programs, including Patriot air defence systems and Apache helicopters.

Spurred by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland became NATO's top spender in terms of the proportion of its national wealth devoted to defence. Warsaw said it will spend 4.1% of gross domestic product on defense in 2024 with a pledge to increase this to 4.7% in 2025.



(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki; editing by Jonathan Oatis)