The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has given necessary recommendations to the Finance Ministry on the import of vehicles without affecting Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves. Answering questions at a press conference held at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka yesterday, the Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said that he had already given the recommendations to the Treasury to import vehicles in a manner that would not affect Sri Lanka’s official foreign reserves. The forex reserves which had plummeted to unprecedented levels in 2022, have now risen to 6 billion USD. He added that the Finance Ministry should decide whether to allow vehicle imports that way or not.

The government of Sri Lanka decided to suspend vehicle imports in 2021 due to the economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. As the severe economic crisis continued to persist, authorities decided to further continue with the restrictions on vehicle imports. The previous government had planned on giving full permission for the import of vehicles by February 2025.