The Government has not banned imports, only some 'big-ticket items' such as motor vehicles are stopped from being imported, Secretary to the President Dr. P. B. Jayasundera stated.

Speaking exclusively to Indeewari Amuwatte at the '@HydePark' program on Ada Derana 24, Dr. Jayasundera expressed the following.

" We have not stopped imports. Let me be very clear. But, some big-ticket items like motor vehicles have been stopped. If the choice is between importation of motor vehicles by spending $ 1500 million per year or honor your debt obligation instead, I advised the Government to first honor the debt obligation because these debt investments, the investment with the sovereign bonds also have been made by the European. Do they like to keep debt default or motor vehicle imports getting suspended for a year? When we discuss this with our counterparts they appreciated this. We have not stopped imports of our raw materials. Apparel industry which collapsed by March because of the lockdown in 2020 has bounced back and exports are now back in the same level that we root to perform before the Covid situations. How do we export? Do we have textile here? We import textile, we import various other requirements and these things are happening. Trade is taking place, except for some big-ticket items like motor vehicle imports or gold imports. So, the country has not stopped imports."

"Trade is not an instrument to use as a leverage to gain something. It is to develop a bilateral relationship. I had a discussion with the German Ambassador. He didn’t mention anything about any trade restrictions. Because, they are also turning to countries like us. Because our country has so many positives that they can speak of and we have trade with Germany. We are unable to permit the importation of motor vehicles but, the medical drugs, pharmaceutical equipment, advanced technology, tourism and spare parts and things like that which can come in from Germany but they were very pleased to see that we are encouraging the health sector investments."