Importing heavy vehicles: State Minister promises to resolve issues pertaining to LCs
August 22, 2023 05:03 pm
Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has promised to intervene to provide expeditious solutions for the issues pertaining to opening letters of credit (LCs) for importing public transport buses and special-purpose heavy vehicles.
On August 15, the Sri Lankan government issued a Gazette Extraordinary relaxing the restrictions imposed on importing public transport buses and other special purpose vehicles such as fire trucks and garbage trucks.
The order was made effective from August 14. Further, the government also decided to release heavy vehicles imported during the restricted period and still remain uncleared at ports.
During a meeting with the state minister, the Vehicle Importers Association of Sri Lanka (VIASL) pointed out that the letters of credit issued by Sri Lankan banks are not internationally accepted due to the country’s economic situation.
Despite the government easing restrictions on the importation of public transport buses and other special-purpose vehicles, VIASL members said they are facing issues at the moment due to LCs.
To this, Siyambalapitiya responded that the government is ready to work on resolving the issue concerning the letters of credit, promising to discuss the matter with the Central Bank officials and respective authorities.
The state minister further mentioned that he is looking into the possibility of issuing government guarantees for relevant letters of credit.
