"Krone" guest commentary

Learning from Nigeria

Christian Baha is a stock market expert and founded Austria's first stock exchange terminal in 1993, which supplies data in real time. In 1996, he established the world's first hedge fund for private investors. Baha has always pursued the vision of making funds for wealthy individuals accessible to smaller investors.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

The new government must make substantial savings. 2.5 million pensioners will contribute to this - through higher health insurance contributions. This will flush 270 million into the state's empty coffers. However, no savings will be made in the armament of the Austrian Armed Forces. The contracts for the purchase of 12 M-346 FA training jets from the manufacturer Leonardo are to be signed soon. At a cost of 1 billion euros. That makes 83.3 million euros per fighter jet.

Since the Eurofighter case, Austria's military purchasers are unlikely to have gained much in terms of negotiating skills. Nigeria has also ordered the M-346 FA jet trainer from the Italians. The African country has ordered 24 of them and the first will be delivered this year. According to various sources, the costs amount to around 1 billion euros, i.e. 41.6 million per jet. The M-346 has also been in service in Poland for some time as an "advanced jet trainer". Leonardo announced this on March 27, 2018: Poland is buying four M-346s at a package price of 115 million euros including maintenance. That makes 28.75 million euros per jet.

There will certainly be plausible explanations as to why Austria needs a luxury variant at a luxury price.

In fact, we could have learned from Nigeria how to buy the same type of jet a good half cheaper - and still achieve the desired effect. Then our pensioners wouldn't have to pay.