INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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
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.
