He said the government is managing the economy under strict conditions by restricting the import of about 900 items.

The State Minister speaking to the media in Ruwanwella said that a decision on the import of vehicles should be taken only after studying the current situation in the country.

"Even after 80 million US dollars were set aside for the purchase of fuel, it had an impact on the value of the Sri Lanka rupee against the US dollar.

“Therefore, decisions like vehicle imports which entail a large amount of dollars should be done after strict studies.

"Therefore, at this juncture, permission cannot be granted for the import of vehicles considering the large amount of foreign reserve which needs to be allocated,” he said.

Commenting on the depreciation of the Sri Lanka Rupee against the USD in the past few days, the minister said the situation is because the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation had to purchase about 75 to 80 million US dollars from the Central Bank to purchase fuel.

“At that time, the parties investing in dollars bought them expecting the dollar to rise. That is why this situation arose. This is a normal situation,” Minister Siyambalapitiya added.

(Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya)