Import restrictions on several items to be relaxed

State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya with officials during his visit to the Bandaranaike International Airport 

State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya yesterday said that the import restrictions on a number of products including cosmetics, and vehicle spare parts will be lifted within two weeks.

He made these remarks following an inspection visit made to the yard belonging to Sri Lanka Customs at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake.  State Minister Siyambalapitiya said that the Department of Economic Research will work on lifting the restrictions after considering the appeals forwarded by those involved in the relevant sectors. 

On 23 August, the Finance Ministry restricted the imports of 1,465 products due to the foreign exchange crisis. Thereafter, a total of 708 products were removed from that list after considering multiple appeals made by the industry stakeholders.

The State Minister said the restrictions will be gradually lifted in the future based on the reasonable requests made by importers.

Customs Director General P.B.S.C. Nonis and several other officials accompanied the State Finance Minister.