SL could face another economic crisis if unlimited importation of vehicles allowed - Senior Academic

By Yohan Perera   

Professor Wasantha Athukorala of the Economics Department at Peradeniya University told media that the government should be diligent in easing restrictions pertaining to vehicle importation.

“The government should be diligent in easing vehicle importation restrictions especially at a time like this where interest rates are low. A large amount of foreign currency will flow out of the country if many vehicles are imported by borrowing funds from banks. Such a scenario could result in another foreign currency crisis,” he said. 

Responding to a question as to whether price of vehicles within Sri Lanka would increase after the government relaxes the importation ban, he said such a thing would not happen under normal circumstances. However, he said the issue with regard to Sri Lanka is the artificial price for vehicles that have existed for some time. This he said could create a negative impact.