The Government will review the import ban on vehicles in December while the temporary import restrictions on several other goods would be relaxed gradually, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal told at an online event hosted by The Advocata Institute, on Saturday.
He however said that the import ban on vehicles would not be relaxed 100 per cent as there would be a surge of imports and a huge burden on the economy but it would be done in a systematic manner depending on the ‘ground situation’.
The Governor also said that the CBSL will release funds to purchase oil for the next three to four months if other attempts to procure oil are not successful and this will increase dollar liquidity as the dependence on the dollar becomes less. “Presently there is economic instability due to various reasons such as the Pandemic and my priority in the next three months would be to bring economic stability and then go for our targets. “For this we have spelt out a four month Road Map to be launched on October 1,” he said.
He said that Sri Lanka knows the importance of settling foreign debt in time and plans are afloat to settle them on time as done on previous occasions.
The Governor accepted that there is a ‘dollar crunch’ which he said is currently being addressed and would be settled sooner than expected. He said that there are no issues with regard to oil and essentials.
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