The ban imposed on the importation of vehicles will be reviewed at the end of this year, State Minister of Finance Ajith Nivard Cabraal said.

The State Minister made the statement in response to questions raised in Parliament today by Opposition Leader MP Sajith Premadasa on the ban.

“The Government and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka were forced to impose the ban in view of the loans obtained, effects on the foreign currency exchange rate, and mostly the COVID-19 pandemic. One measure implemented to face the issues faced by the country was imposing a ban on the importation of non-essential goods from 1st March, 2020. Under this decision, we had to impose a ban on the importation of vehicles as well,” he explained.

State Minister Cabraal said even though the ban remained in place due to sufficient number of vehicles being available in the market, it will be reviewed by the end of this year.

He said this ban has been imposed as a temporary measure, adding that the Government will consider relaxing the ban based on the foreign currency exchange rate.