Sri Lanka is currently in stock of vehicles adequate for over the next two years, Secretary to the President Dr. P.B. Jayasundera said.
In an interview with Derana TV, Dr. Jayasundera said that the Government has only suspended the imports of non-essential items.
‘Vehicles were imported to the value of US$ 1000 -1200 million per year until 2019. These vehicles are brought to Sri Lanka via ships. The vehicles that were imported from 2015-2019 are adequate for the next 2 ½ years. Any person can currently purchase a brand new vehicle in Sri Lanka. The increase in vehicle price is a completely different issue’, he said.
As per the Central Bank report US$ 9.2 million had been spent on the imports of private vehicles in June 2020. It is an 80.9% drop in comparison to the expenditure incurred in June 2019, which amounted to US$ 48.1 million.
The expenditure incurred for the import of private vehicles during the first 6- months of 2020 has reduced 15.7% from US$ 324.2 million to US$ 273.4 million, he further explained.
(Newswire)