Australia to allocate $245B to nuclear submarine program

The Australian government will allocate about $245 billion to the implementation of the nuclear submarine program over the next 32 years, which will increase the defense budget, Report informs, citing TASS.

This was announced today by the Australian Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jim Chalmers, who said that the program is subject to the AUKUS (a tripartite partnership of Australia, the UK, and the US) agreements.

According to him, the cost of the nuclear submarine construction program for the Australian Navy will be at least 0.15% of the country's GDP per year for the entire period of its operation from 2023 to the mid-2050s.

"Over the next ten years, the cost of this project will remain within A$58bn ($38.6bn)," he said. The minister indicated that the total cost of the program would be around A$368bn ($244.8bn), a major expense that would put a lot of pressure on the federal budget, "but Australia can't afford not to." This program will greatly benefit our national security and our economy in the future."

Australia's current defense budget is reportedly A$48.6 billion (US$32.3 billion) a year, equivalent to 2.11% of GDP. To implement the nuclear submarine construction program, this amount should be increased to at least 59.6 billion Australian dollars (39.6 billion US dollars) annually, and the share of defense spending in the country's GDP will increase to 2.6%.