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10. 03. 10. - 10:00

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10. 03. 10. - 10:00

Number of vouchers in clunckers programme to be increased

Romanian Times

The clunkers programme will be supplemented with an increase in the number of vouchers to be issued from 40,000 to 50,000, Prime Minister Emil Boc said yesterday evening (Tues).

The news came after the Environmental Fund Administration (AFM) said yesterday that all the 50,000 vouchers assigned for this year's programme had already been issued during the three weeks since the launch of the junk-car scrapping programme for 2010 on 18 February.

The sums alloted to the programme would be supplemented, Boc noted. The government has budgeted a total of 55.6 million Euros (228 million lei) for it in 2010.

Initially, the government said some 60,000 cars might be scrapped this year through the clunkers programme. Last year, the total number of cars scrapped was 32,327.

Taking old cars off the roads in exchange of for vouchers doesn't mean also that new cars are being purchased, according to AFM. The number of new cars purchased using vouchers worth 900 Euros (3,800 lei) received for a junked car had been very small, only 456, AFM said a week ago.

The new approach of the programme is that a buyer can use a maximum of three vouchers to buy a new car instead of only one as was the case last year, which considerably reduces the price of a new car.

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