The Ministry of Finance has clarified that the decision by the Government permitting the import of 1,000 vehicles for the tourism sector will either be for brand new vehicles or second-hand vehicles no older than one year.
It further notes that this limited relaxation of the import ban on vehicles will not be applied only to electric and hybrid vehicles, as speculated.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Ministry of Finance Department of Trade and Investment Policies Director General K.A. Vimalenthirarajah revealed that contrary to speculation, the Cabinet decision to allow the importation of 1,000 vehicles for the tourism sector did not include a requirement stipulating that only second-hand vehicles could be imported.
Elaborating further, he stated: “Only brand new vehicles and those less than one year old from the date of manufacture will be permitted.”
Vimalenthirarajah further stated that this was a more stringent standard than what had existed prior to the ban on vehicle imports, when vehicles up to three years old had been allowed to be imported to the country.
Further addressing concerns raised by the automobile industry that this relaxation of the import ban on vehicles would be limited to electric and hybrid vehicles, he stated that while the Government would be promoting electric and hybrid vehicles, Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEV) would also be permitted to be imported under this scheme.
Commenting further, he stated that it appeared that the local automobile industry had misinterpreted the Cabinet decision.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Ceylon Motor Traders’ Association (CMTA) Chairperson Charaka Perera claimed that according to reports published, they had understood that as per the Cabinet decision allowing for the import of 1,000 vehicles for the tourism sector, imports would be limited to second-hand vehicles no older than one year.
“From what we are given to understand from media reports based on this Cabinet decision, only one-year-old vehicles will be permitted, not brand new ones. I believe this is because brand new vehicles are more expensive than used vehicles.
“Our concern is whether they have actually studied this decision, due to the simple fact that distributors of brand new vehicles can get a special price from the manufacturer, whereas vehicles which are one year old or several months old will have to be imported from the retail market of another country at a much higher price,” he stated.
Perera further stated that the rationale for the decision to reduce the outflow of foreign exchange from the country would be defeated, since second-hand vehicles no older than one year would prove to be more expensive than brand new vehicles.
He also pointed out that there was no guarantee with regard to the standards of these vehicles, which could lead to a greater outflow of foreign exchange to finance the import of the required spare parts.
He also claimed that it was believed that this scheme of importing vehicles for the tourism sector would be limited to electric and hybrid vehicles and cautioned against such a move to fully embrace electric vehicles, on the grounds that Sri Lanka did not possess adequate infrastructure to accommodate such a move yet.