Myanmar’s Ministry of Commerce plans to assist taxi drivers in buying their own cars at discounted prices.

A battered old Toyota Corolla taxi plys the streets of Yangon in this file photo from July 2011. (Photo by Adam Renton)

The ministry has announced that it will sell vehicles to taxi drivers at less than the market price through a hire-purchase scheme.

“Taxis owned by the Ministry of Commerce will be sold at 60% of the market price through a hire-purchase system,” a ministry official was quoted by Mizzima. 

The official said that the aim is to allow drivers to eventually own their own vehicles.

Most taxis in Myanmar’s capital Yangon were relics from the 1960s and 1970s until government liberalisation began in 2011. As economic sanctions have been lifted and buying a new vehicle has become easier in Myanmar, many of these Japanese-made vehicles have been replaced by Chery QQ compacts from China.

Related search: Myanmar, Yangon, taxis, hire-purchase