The budget proposal came as Nato said all its members were set this year to hit the alliance’s previous defence spending target of two percent of GDP.

Poland has been a key alliance member on its eastern flank as neighbouring Ukraine battles Russia’s invasion launched in 2022.

“We are committing the record amount of 200 billion zlotys (US$55 billion) to defence” in 2206, representing “over 4.8% of GDP”, finance minister Andrzej Domanski told journalists after a cabinet meeting.

Fearing a Russian threat, Poland has embarked on a swift modernisation of its armed forces, spending billions on weapons, sourced in particular from the US and South Korea.

In June, the 32-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreed to massively boost defence spending over the next decade under pressure from Trump.

Trump rammed through the commitment to spend five percent of their GDPs on security-related spending in a move seen as key to keeping him engaged with Nato.

That headline figure breaks down as 3.5% on core defence spending and 1.5% on a looser range of areas such as infrastructure and cyber security.

The new target replaces the alliance’s former military spending goal of two percent, first set back in 2014.