- Restrictions on 10 types of commodities related to tourism, defence, and sports sectors now removed
The Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies stated that $ 1.2 billion had been saved within a period of three months after imposing import restrictions on 1,465 commodities with effect from 23 August 2022.
State Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said: “In 2020, the cost of imports in Sri Lanka was $ 16 billion, and by 2021, it had increased to $ 20 billion. Considering this situation, the Government took steps to restrict the import of 1,465 commodities on 23 August 2022. In the three months up to 23 November, savings of $ 1.2 billion were possible due to the restrictions.”
He also said that the Government had taken steps to remove the import restrictions on 10 types of commodities related to the tourism, defence, and sports sectors, which were previously included in the said 1,465 commodities. They included energy drinks needed for the tourism industry, equipment needed for surveillance camera systems, thin boards needed for furniture production, and sports equipment. He said that a follow-up will be done on the commodities for which the import restrictions are relaxed and removed.
The import of several commodities was restricted with effect from 23 August under the Imports and Exports Control Act through a Government notification issued by the Ministry of Finance. The regulation had been issued by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies, in terms of the powers vested in him by Section 20 of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, No. 1 of 1969. The host of items included in the list ranged from chocolate and other food preparations containing cocoa, condensed milk, yoghurt, coconut and coconut-based arrack, roses, perfumes, beauty or make-up preparations, deodorants, dental floss, and trunks, suitcases and briefcases, to various clothing items.
On an earlier occasion, Siyambalapitiya stated that the Government was ready to ease the import restrictions on commodities that have been imposed recently, based on priority and requests that will be made by various parties in the future. He said that out of the 1,465 goods that were restricted in that way, the restrictions on 708 were removed considering the requests of various parties including the Board of Investment and the business community.
“We need foreign exchange reserves to import essential commodities such as gas, oil, and medicines. Therefore, the Government wanted to make imports on a priority list. This was recommended by the Economic Research Division of the Central Bank. There are actually very unnecessary things that are being imported. For instance, in a country where there is no medicine, kites were being imported. However, we hope to relax these restrictions based on import priorities, taking into account future requests,” he said at the time.