Sri Lanka car imports on rise

Car imports to Sri Lanka have risen sharply during the last three months, a senior government official said on Monday.

Sudharma Karunaratne, director general of Customs told reporters that some 450 to 500 vehicles are being customs cleared daily.

Used cars from Japan dominates the island's market. The car import trade had ground to a halt with the government slapping high customs duty on cars since 2008.

In October 2009, only 370 vehicles were customs cleared, representing a sharp drop of 54 percent compared with October 2008.

However, the tariffs were drastically brought down in June this year, a move to invigorate growth in the island in its post-ethnic separatist conflict revival.

The lowered tariffs have doubled the state revenue from import duties.

Lowered tariffs and expanded tax base were main economic revival steps recommended by the International Monetary Fund when it approved the 2.6-billion-U.S. dollar stand-by loan to the island to boost up its foreign reserves.

Sri Lanka anticipates 8 percent growth in the current year to carry out its massive reconstruction and rehabilitation effort in the post conflict era.
(Source:xinhua)