By Ajith Siriwardana  

The government is working to take an urgent decision to import vehicles as the government revenue expected from the Customs Department has depleted by a huge margin where only Rs. 330 billion rupees have been received in the first 5 months whereas the expected income stood at Rs. 1226 billion within the year.  

This was revealed at the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Economic and Physical Plans, chaired by Mahindananda Aluthgamage which met recently at the Parliament Complex.  
Customs officials said that the expected income cannot be reached due to the restrictions imposed on the import of goods including the suspension of vehicle imports.      They pointed out that about 20% of the revenue received by the customs comes from the taxes imposed on the import of vehicles and until the restrictions on the import of vehicles are in place, this expected revenue cannot be reached.   Officials pointed out the possibility of importing vehicles under a credit line system with another country and that it is the best way to increase the customs revenue.