The fleet of State-owned cars serving officials will be cut by 30 to 50%, or about 12,000 to 20,000 cars, by the year 2020. The cut will not be applied to mountainous, remote areas and the islands, according to a report by Vietnam News.

The target was set by Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. His directive was part of efforts to considerably reduce public spending, of which buying State assets accounts for 20% of the state budget each year, according to the report.

Statistics from the Ministry of Finance showed the country now has nearly 40,000 State-owned cars, and the cost to run them has reached VNĐ13 trillion ($582 million) per year, according to the report.

Phúc tasked the Ministry of Finance to quickly submit to the Government a plan for deputy ministers and officials at the same level to receive taxi fare subsidies instead of offering them State-owned vehicles. Starting Oct. 1, six deputy ministers of finance and heads of the ministry departments have begun getting their taxi fares subsidy based on the distance of their home from their office, according to the report.