The Romanian state has collected EUR 7 billion in 25 years from the privatization of 7,500 companies.

Almost a third of the money (EUR 2.2 billion) came from the privatization of BCR, Romania’s largest bank, which was bought by Austrian group Erste in 2004, reports local Ziarul Financiar.

The sums Romania has got from privatizations represent only 14% of this year’s consolidated budgetary expenses.

The state has spent about two-thirds of the money, but some EUR 2.2 billion are still available in the State’s Treasury account, said Florin Georgescu, first deputy governor of Romania’s National Bank. This is the first official report on privatizations in Romania.

Georgescu was Finance Minister in the Vacaroiu Government between 1992 and 1996, when Romania carried out few privatizations. Georgescu has been seen as one of the economists who initially opposed the privatization and the liberalization.

editor@romania-insider.com