France's public investment bank Bpifrance will launch a 450 million euros ($490 million) fund dedicated to financing defense projects, Finance Minister Eric Lombard said on Thursday.
That fund will be part of the country's efforts to ramp up military spending due to fears of a Russian attack and doubts about the future of United States protection.
"French citizens will be able, by tranches of 500 euros, to invest their money in the long term," Lombard told TF1.
French companies in the defense sector will need more than 5 billion euros in additional equity capital over the next few years, according to both the finance and the defense ministries.
President Emmanuel Macron, who has initiated doubling the French defense budget throughout his two mandates, has recently set an even higher target: saying the country should increase defense spending to 3%-3.5% of economic output from the current 2%.
