Copenhagen, May 4 (IANS): Norwegian government decided to increase military spending to at least 2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2026 in accordance with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) guidelines, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said at a press conference.

"We will increase our defence spending to at least 2 percent of Norway's gross domestic product by 2026. We will draw up a plan setting out how we will achieve this," said the Prime Minister in a statement.

His announcement follows an agreement in 2014 by all NATO member countries to meet a 2 per cent of GDP defence investment guideline by 2024, Xinhua news agency reported.

Even though Norway already has good operational national defence forces, there is a "need to enhance our own defence capability in light of the growing instability, tension and polarisation in the world today", said Store.

According to the Prime Minister, Norway's national defence is built on three pillars: military forces, bilateral agreements with other countries and NATO membership.

However, Store said that Norway's economic reality made it "difficult to manage spending based on a percentage of the nominal GDP." But he also told the press that "only the US spends more per capita on defence than Norway".