The buses and vans that Sri Lanka plans to import for the tourism sector will be a year old, as opposed to brand new vehicles that would cost more, and also subject to tax as usual, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said last week.
He told the media that the country’s rapidly recovering tourism industry needs to follow the same global standards which don’t allow for vehicles more than six years old.
“In 2020, vehicle imports were stopped due to the foreign exchange crisis in the country as our biggest forex expenditure was for vehicle imports. But we allowed for some imports under special circumstances from time to time. For example, to meet the needs of the Health Ministry and other ministries. Now the tourism industry is faced with such an essential need,” he said.
“The vehicles we already have are aging, and they’re also not enough. So the Cabinet decided to allow the import of 250 buses and 750 vans specifically for the tourism industry,” he said.
The State Minister said the Import and Export Control Department will issue a circular, announcing the issuance of licenses for the planned imports.
“We will allow the import of year-old vehicles, because year-old vehicles are sold at a much lower price than brand new vehicles. This was a decision taken to save on foreign exchange.
“There is also no tax relief provided for these imports. They will be taxed as usual. The purpose here is only to bring in vehicles for tourism,” he said.