News Story: Slight Reduction in New Zealand’s 2012-13 Defense Budget

Protector/Otago  class OPV (Wiki Info)

By NICK LEE-FRAMPTON

Wellington New Zealand — New Zealand’s Defence Force (NZDF) has done relatively well with only a slight reduction in its overall budget for 2012-2013, according to released budget figures.

As usual, the Army takes the largest slice of the overall 2.9 billion New Zealand dollar ($2.2 billion) defense budget, down from 2.91 billion New Zealand dollars from the previous year. Last year, the Army’s budget was 832 million New Zealand dollars and this year rises to 845 million New Zealand dollars.

However, the Royal New Zealand Air Force enjoys a more than 5 percent budget increase, from 670 million New Zealand dollars to 790 million, while the Royal New Zealand Navy saw its funding fall by more than 4 percent, to 6.62 billion New Zealand dollars.

Although the overall defense budget has diminished slightly, most NZDF capabilities will enjoy more funding.

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