The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance has rejected recent news reports that it wanted to break a rule by allowing government officials to switch to more expensive cars.

Local news website VnExpress on Sunday cited the ministry as saying that it planned to raise the maximum value allowed for state office cars to VND1.1 billion (US$53,500) from VND800 million, but it was only because car prices have been rising.

The new ceiling does not mean the ministry wanted to buy higher-end cars for state offices, VnExpress cited a source as saying.

Vietnam’s government in February ordered ministries and agencies to withhold 10 percent of non-essential expenditures for the rest of this year.

The country had 29,524 vehicles at state offices, worth VND13.3 trillion ($647 million), Hanoi Moi newspaper reported in March, citing the Public Property Management Department.