COLOMBO, Oct. 9– Sri Lanka will remove import restrictions on all items except vehicles effective from Monday night, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said on Monday. The minister told the media that the gazette notification in this regard would be issued on Monday night. The government said in September that Sri Lanka would relax restrictions imposed on imported goods except vehicles in October to help price stabilization. The Sri Lankan government restricted the import of 1,465 items in August 2022 due to an economic crisis but lifted restrictions on most of those items on several separate occasions. Official data show that Sri Lanka’s total import expenditure in 2022 amounted to over 18 billion U.S. dollars, recording a decline of 11.4 percent from 2021.
Xinhua
