Defence restructuring costs $65m/year

The costs to restructure the defence industry have been estimated to $65 million a year after 1990, as explained by the head of the Defence Production Department within the Ministry of Economy and Trade, Alexandru Fratean during a presentation at the Expomil 2003 show. This estimate considered about $40 million for restructuring and privatisation suggestions, $10 million for severance pays and $15 million for upgrades and retooling in addition to the efforts of every economic operator. The number of state-run defence industry employees has dropped from over 120,000 in 1989 to less than 30,000 in 2003, while Romania’s exports of armament and ammunition are down to $42 million (2002 figures) from the $1bn in 1989. ZF