Fact Check: Is Myanmar facing fuel shortage?

Bankon, Apr 20: Myanmar government has denied a shortage of fuel after rumors about low supplies of gasoline and diesel led to panic buying and long queues at service stations in several cities.

The clarification comes after some gasoline stations in Yangon shut down after exhausting their supplies and several motorists said they were restricted in the amount they could purchase at the legally fixed price of 1,975 kyats ($1.07) for one liter of gasoline and 2,160 kyats ($1.17) for one liter of diesel.

The Ministry of Electricity and Energy denied there was a shortage, saying unfounded rumors and inadequate infrastructure for retail sales were to blame.

The ministry said in a statement sent to journalists that Myanmar has sufficient supplies both in storage tanks and in two unloaded vessels berthed at the main port for Yangon, the country's biggest city.

The ministry said it was working to ease panic buying and that retail sales would continue as usual.

Myanmar has suffered a cash crunch since the army seized power last year, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering financial sanctions by Western governments. The economy, already suffering from the coronavirus pandemic, has been strained further by public resistance to the army's takeover, which has led to what some U.N. experts have characterized as a civil war.