The Government will not yield to the pressure exerted by owners of vehicles registered outside the country, who stage protests to show their dissatisfaction with the rise in the price of vignette (road tax), but can review the import taxes on cars, Minister of Finance Octavian Armasu said in the program “Reply” on Prime TV channel.

“The price of the short-term vignette wasn’t modified. But the owners of vehicles registered in the Republic of Moldova are put in unequal conditions with those who possess cars registered outside the country as the latter pay much lower taxes. In fact we did this not to increase the amounts collected into the state budget, but rather to make the owners register their vehicles in the Republic of Moldova,” explained the minister.

Octavian Armasu noted that the import taxes on vehicles could be reviewed. “Many choose to travel by cars registered abroad because the import taxes are very high. A working group will be set up within the Cabinet to examine the possibility of making the import taxes accessible,” he stated.

Hundreds of drivers with vehicles registered abroad mounted several protests and once blocked the road to the Cahul-Oancea customs post to express their dissatisfaction with the increase in the price of the vignette. When the 2016 state budget law takes effect, the owners of vehicles registered outside the country will pay by €1 per day of stay in Moldova.