Vehicle importers tell govt. to talk to them before relaxing import restrictions

By Rathindra Kuruwita

President of Vehicle Importer’s Association of Sri Lanka, Indika Sampath Merenchige, on Monday (14) urged the government to have a discussion with them before relaxing restrictions on vehicle imports.

Sri Lanka would relax restrictions on imports of vehicles required for transportation of goods and passengers this week, State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said on Sunday.

“There was a relaxation of vehicle imports in mid-2021 when the government allowed the import of freezer trucks. There was a rush to buy those vehicles, and we overpaid for them at vehicle auctions. A lot of foreign currency went out of the country. We think the government should have spoken to us and come up with some guidelines before allowing imports,” he said.

Merenchige said that there was confusion about whether the government would also allow the import of reconditioned vehicles. “There is a lot of pent-up demand here and people are keen on importing. The price of brand-new vehicles, in Japan, won’t change because of our demand. However, the prices of reconditioned vehicles can fluctuate, based on demand. We must do this systematically to ensure we don’t blow a hole in our economy,” he said.

In 2019, Sri Lanka spent about 815.7 million US dollars on vehicle imports. In 2018, the country spent 1.5 billion dollars on them. Vehicle imports were restricted in March 2020.