Romania's Cash-for-Bangers (Rabla) program will continue this year, and the vouchers’ value will increase from RON 6,500 (EUR 1,438) to RON 8,000 (EUR 1,769), the Environment Minister Daniel Constantin said during an interview for local Europa FM.

The budget allocated for the program will amount to RON 220 million (EUR 48.6 million), similar to last year. The program will most probably begin at the end of April.

The Environment Minister said that the ministry also wants to finance the creation of charging stations for electric cars. The Rabla Plus program, for electric and hybrid cars, will benefit from a larger amount compared to last year.

The scrappage program has recently generated a conflict on the local car market. Dacia and Renault strongly supported the program, where the two brands record important sales, whereas several importers opposed the program.

Importers don’t support the scrappage program because it has never had an exact starting time. Rabla generates large sales in a short time, so that dealers must have these cars in stock to take advantage of the program. As cars in the stock are financed by banks, keeping them for several months generates large additional costs. However, Dacia has its own plant in the country, so it can deliver the cars anytime.

editor@romania-insider.com