By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Sri Lanka on Tuesday announced the partial suspension of the order banning vehicle imports, starting from allowing buses and trucks back into the island three years after the policy was put in place.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe had issued an order removing the restriction put in place March 2020, when the country faced an acute shortage of foreign exchange to finance essential imports.
Officials said an import ban on cars, motorcycles and three-wheel scooters will remain until Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves improve further.
The ban on vehicle imports has led to a sharp rise in second-hand prices.
The South Asian nation faced serious shortages of food and energy resulting in months of protests that forced then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down last year.
His successor Wickremesinghe has doubled taxes, sharply increased energy prices and cracked down on protests in a bid to stabilise the economy after securing a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout in March.
