Government issues extraordinary gazette restricting gold imports to prevent smuggling

The government yesterday announced that measures would be taken to restrict the import of gold to the country.

An extraordinary gazette was issued  yesterday restricting imports of gold over 22 carats as jewellery.
According to State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, who took to twitter to share the update, the decision was made to prevent smuggling of gold.

Sri Lanka Customs went on record recently, highlighting that the incidents of gold smuggling to Sri Lanka is on the rise. According to the authority, the majority of the smuggling is from India, and Sri Lanka is used as a transit point.
In November 2022, the Finance Ministry issued a statement to announce no airline passenger would be allowed to wear gold valued over 22 carats.

It cautioned that legal action will be taken against those who wear “unnecessary” amounts of gold jewellery as they fly with the aim of engaging in illegal business.

According to news reports from India, the increase in smuggling of gold from the neighbouring giant has been triggered by an extremely high demand during wedding and festive seasons. 

The increase in smuggling incidents were also attributed to low imports of the yellow metals towards the latter part of 2022, which resulted in prices jumping upwards in international markets.