One billion dollars for vehicle imports

The Sri Lanka Central Bank (CBSL) has informed the Finance Ministry to import one billion dollars worth of vehicles from the country's foreign reserves in 2025.

Accordingly, the Ministry and the Cabinet will decide the amount of tax that will be levied on vehicles to increase state revenue, the CBSL stated.

CBSL noted that the import of vehicles and gold into the country had to be stopped because the country's foreign exchange earnings have decreased, making the import cost unsustainable. However, CBSL added that in order to strengthen the country's economy, the existing number of vehicles must be renewed.

A Central Bank spokesperson said that since the vehicles currently in the country were imported five years ago, they also cost a lot of money to maintain, so there is a need to import new vehicles.

The Central Bank said that it had studied how much can be allocated for vehicle imports without compromising the target of increasing foreign reserves in the next two years. Accordingly, it had provided forecasts to the Finance Ministry regarding vehicle imports of one billion dollars this year.

The Central Bank further stated that there is a possibility of gradually increasing foreign reserves for vehicle imports in the coming years by increasing foreign reserves and that importing one billion dollars worth of vehicles now will not hinder the increase in reserves and the gradual advancement of the exchange rate.

The current amount of Sri Lankan foreign reserves is USD 6.8 billion.