Taxi and tuk-tuk drivers in Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon queued for hours for scarce petrol on Wednesday in the latest shortage fuelled by civil war and a tanking economy.
Myanmar’s local kyat currency has plunged against the dollar since the military seized power in 2021, hitting importers’ ability to pay for fuel shipments.
Yangon’s eight million inhabitants regularly suffer fuel shortages that also affect businesses and hospitals that rely on generators for power during frequent electricity blackouts.
Thein Myint, 62, said he had been queueing in eastern Yangon’s Thaketa since last night waiting for a chance to fill up his car.
“They (the fuel station) don’t say if we will get fuel or not… I don’t want to go anywhere else so I have to wait until I get some petrol.”
A tuk-tuk driver at another petrol station said he had been queueing since 6:00 AM in the morning.
“They were selling fuel then they stopped as they ran out… They only sell 50,000 kyat (around $15 at the market rate) worth of fuel per car and only 3,000 per motorcycle,” he said.
“I can do two to three routes with the 3,000 worth of fuel. I have to come back here when it runs out. I don’t have any other job. So what can I do if I don’t have petrol?”
Last December the junta launched a crackdown on fuel hoarding, with authorities threatening to jail anyone found with more than 180 litres of petrol without a licence.
Myanmar’s economy has tanked since the coup, which sparked huge pro-democracy protests that were crushed by a military crackdown.
More than three years on, the junta is struggling to crush an armed uprising.
In recent months, it has lost swathes of territory and control of several border trade crossings to an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups.
A junta statement on Wednesday blamed the current shortage on drivers making “more purchases than usual” and said it had provided additional supplies to areas in need.
“I cannot drive even if a passenger comes because I don’t have petrol,” another taxi driver in Yangon said.
“We also have to save some petrol in case of emergency because we don’t know what will happen to the country.”
