Economic woes throttle vehicle trade

By Shiran Ranasinghe

Secretary of the Ceylon Automobile Importers Association, Prasad Kulatunga, told The Island that the motor vehicle trade had been throttled by import restrictions.

He said that when the government-imposed import restrictions on vehicles, some traders had shifted to selling second hand vehicles.

By 2023, there will be hardly any vehicle sales, even between private parties in the second hand business, he said.

“However, by now, 99 percent of those who own vehicles will not try to sell and almost no one will try to buy vehicles,” he said.

In 2019, Sri Lanka spent about USD 815.7 million on vehicle imports. It had reached USD 1.5 billion in 2018. The government introduced import restrictions in March 2020.