Italy's defense ministry will have a budget of 13.58 billion euros in 2015, almost one billion euros less than it predicted it would have in a three-year provisional budget issued in 2013.
The new spending figure for 2015 was contained in a defense ministry budget document submitted to Italy's parliament and obtained by Defense News.
The massive drop from spending forecasts issued in 2013 reflect the cuts made by the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who took office in 2014 and is seeking resources to offer tax cuts and cut Italy's debt pile.
The drop also calls into question the value of publishing three-year budgets, which were designed to give military planners a longer-term view of available funding.
The new document breaks down spending for 2015, with 2.67 billion euros allocated for procurement, 1.17 billion euros for Maintenance and Operations, and 9.74 billion euros for personnel.
A fuller breakdown on program spending is not expected to be released until 2015. Italy changed its way of publishing budgets in 2013, and since then has issued a total spending figure in December for the subsequent year, followed up in the spring by a fuller document that lists what money is being spent on each program.
The Spring document also gives the contribution from Italy's industry ministry for procurement. Additionally, the document is a three year plan, as it gives funding predictions for the two subsequent years.
The first three year plan, issued in 2013 and covering 2013-2015, predicted that defense ministry spending in 2015 would amount to 14.5 billion euros, almost a billion euros more than the sum now being spent.
The 2013 forecast also predicted 3.08 billion euros would be spent on procurement in 2015, compared to the 2.67 billion made available. The forecast predicted 1.3 billion euros would be spent on Maintenance and Operations, while the real figure is 1.17 billion euros.
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
