15 WHITE to Lithuania’s security challenges, thus a political agreement on the future increase of defence expenditures will be sought. The distribution of defence spending is planned according to NATO standards: no less than 20% allocated for the procurement of armament and military equipment, and no more than 50% for personnel. In 2016, Lithuania modernisation investments were the largest within the Alliance. Starting from the beginning of 2018, National Defence System procurements will be centralised into a new defence resource agency which will be responsible for the management and procurement of armament and other projects, with the goal of making defence spending as transparent and effective as possible. Equipment expenditure as share of defence expenditure (%) 2016 35,00 30,00 Lithuania Luxembourg Norway 25,00 Poland France Turkey UK USA 20,00 Latvia Greece Estonia 15,00 10,00 5,00 0,00 0,00 0,50 1,00 1,50 Defence expenditure as share of GDP (%) 2016 2,00 2,50 3,00 3,50 4,00 Defence expenditure of NATO countries as share of GDP and the equipment expenditure as share of defence expenditure in 2016 PA P E R