Import ban to be relaxed on 670 more items: Siyambalapitiya

By Ajith Siriwardana 

The Finance Ministry was considering relaxing the import ban on 670 more items except for items which can be manufactured locally, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said yesterday. He said the import ban was imposed on 1,465 items due to the acute foreign exchange crisis the country was facing.

The Minister said import ban on some 795 items have already been removed and that steps were being taken to relax the ban on other items as well.

He said there were many items which can be manufactured locally out of the 670 items which are still banned.

"People should think whether we should import items such as kites, vesak lanterns, bamboo related items and coconut kernel which can be produced domestically," he told media after an event in Ruwanwella.