Vietnam aims to reduce official cars by half to cut expenses

• Bulk buying to save Vietnamese government $1.5 billion per year

Vietnam may cut the number of official state cars by 30-50 percent by 2020 in a new austerity move.

The Ministry of Finance has proposed the measure after several attempts to curb government spending, according to media reports.

Thanh Nien newspaper quoted Minister Dinh Tien Dung as saying that since October the ministry has run a pilot program, providing travel allowances of VND9 million ($400) per month to many of its officials instead of cars. This year the program will be expanded to other ministries and bodies, he said.

Recent statistics from the ministry showed that Vietnam has about 37,000 state cars, each requiring an annual maintenance cost of VND320 million (US$14,000).

If the government can really reduce its vehicle fleet by 50 percent and offers each official a monthly allowance of VND9 million, it can save up to VND4.2 trillion ($185 million), not to mention salaries for drivers, according to the ministry's projections.

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> Bulk buying to save Vietnamese government $1.5 billion per year