COLOMBO: Sri Lanka announced the lifting of a five-year ban on vehicle imports on Tuesday (Jan 28) as the country showed further signs of emerging from its worst economic meltdown.
Information Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said buses, trucks and utility vehicles will be allowed in from Saturday under a phased removal of restrictions in place since 2020.
“We are moving very cautiously because we don’t want a surge of imports that will deplete our foreign reserves,” Jayatissa told reporters in Colombo.
“Depending on the demand, we will open imports of other categories of vehicles such as cars, motorcycles and three-wheelers.”
He said the imports were necessary to generate much-needed tax revenue, and the government hoped to cap imports at about US$1.2 billion this year.
Current tax rates on vehicles are over 300 per cent.
Sri Lanka spent US$1.4 billion on vehicle imports in 2019, the last full year before the import ban was imposed in March 2020.
