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“Govt. to partially relax vehicle import ban”

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The Government is set to partially relax the vehicle import ban that has been in place since 2020, says First Capital Research.

“With this move, the government is planning to lift restrictions placed on small cars with engine capacity of 1,000CC and 1,300CC.”

The move to relax small vehicle imports come in the wake of limited revenue collection by Sri Lanka customs (approximately falling short by RS. 300.0 bn – RS. 450.0 bn), on the backdrop of stringent revenue targets set by the IMF.

“Prior to the ban on vehicle imports, Sri Lanka had new vehicle registrations of over 350,000 annually, of which majority was dominated by motorcycles ( over 280,000) whilst Cars came in second with over35,000 new registrations annually,” First Capital Research stated.

Considering the pent-up demand in the system on the back of outstanding permits given to government officers, we believe that the lifting of the ban on small vehicles under 1,300CC will trigger new registrations between 10,000-15,000 in the next 2 years (new registrations of small car imports less than 1,000CC amounted to 26,962 in 2019 and 64,195 in 2018).

This move is expected to boost the prospects for Diversified Financials given that 57.3% of the loan book in the sector is exposed to the leasing business.

Taming down in interest rates together with the pickup in economic activity in the country is also expected to aid leasing volumes, after Govt. partially relaxes the prevailing import ban.

“However, steep depreciation of RS. and recently implemented taxes are expected to cause headwinds to the expected growth in volumes,” the report added.

No final decision on car imports

State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe said yesterday that the Government has not yet reached a firm decision on lifting the ban on private motor vehicle imports.

He said that the prime focus of the Government is to uphold economic stabilisation at an acceptable threshold and added that this cautious approach was being taken to safeguard the economic gains achieved so far.

(sundayobserver.lk)

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Names of Mayors and Chairpersons of several LG bodies gazetted

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A gazette extraordinary has been issued containing the names of Mayors, Deputy Mayors, Chairpersons, and Vice-Chairpersons of several local government institutions.

The names have been gazetted based on recommendations sent to the National Election by political parties and independents groups that secured a majority in local government bodies at the recently concluded Local Government (LG) election.    

Accordingly, the Election Commission has taken steps to publish the names from among the political parties and independent groups that secured a majority at the Local Government election held recently.

The names of the elected and nominated members for the respective local authorities, following the Local Government election were also published in the government gazette based on the respective administrative districts.

As per the gazette notification issued by the Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils, and Local Government on February 17, 2025, the term of office of local government bodies is scheduled to commence on June 2, 2025

පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවල සභාපතිවරුන්ගේ නම් ඇතුළත් ගැසට් පත්‍රය නිකුත් කෙරේ by poornima

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Weather Alert: Showers to ease in Southwest, strong winds forecast in North

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Prevailing showery condition in the southwestern part of the island is expected to reduced gradually from today (01st)

Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and North-western provinces and in Galle and Matara districts.

Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in Uva province and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts during the afternoon or night.

Fairly strong winds of about (30-40) kmph can be expected at times over Western slopes of the central hills and in Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Hambantota and Trincomalee districts.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

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Aluthgamage and Fernando assigned printing work in prison

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Former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage and former Sathosa Chairman Nalin Fernando, sentenced this week to jail for 20 and 25 years, respectively, have been assigned duties in the printing section at the Welikada prison, sources said.

Both of them are being held together away from the main section of the prison’s ‘chapel’ section, where prisoners serving life sentences and those convicted of murder and rape are held. The prison’s printing section prints its own documentation.

Prison sources said that in placing them in relevant wards to serve their jail term, the authorities had taken into consideration the security of the two convicts, as they might have had political enemies.

Mr Aluthgamage was handed a 20-year term of rigorous imprisonment, while Mr Fernando was given a 25-year term of rigorous imprisonment by a High Court trial-at-bar after being found guilty of causing a Rs 53 million loss to the state.

They were accused of importing carrom boards and checkers boards through Sathosa during the 2015 presidential elections and distributing them to clubs.

Their lawyers said yesterday they were awaiting the certified copy of the judgement to prepare the appeal papers. The appeal will be considered by the Supreme Court.

(sundaytimes.lk)
(This story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

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