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The Sri Lanka government which lacks money has slapped a ban on imports of 300 consumer goods such as chocolate, perfume, and shampoo to further notification, when the island country tries to overcome its worst economic crisis triggered by the acute deficiency of foreign exchange. Sri Lanka has been experiencing the worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948. The deteriorating forex crisis caused the shortage of important goods that triggered a large public protest on the road since the beginning of this year which led to the overthrow of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government last month.
In a special notification issued by the Ministry of Finance Sri Lanka, the prohibition was imposed on a total of 300 items including chocolate, perfume, watch, telephone, pressurer, air conditioner, musical instruments, alcoholic drinks and non-alcohols between several other products. “Under the import and export control regulations dated August 22, the import ban on various consumer goods from food to the engine has started to take effect,” said the notification.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, economic stabilization and national policy, issued new regulations through an extraordinary gazette that suspended imports of large amounts of goods, with effects from August 23, 2022, to further notice. However, these items if sent before August 23 and arrive in the country before September 14 are still permitted, stated. In mid -April, Sri Lanka declared an international debt default due to the forex crisis. The country’s foreign exchange reserves plummeted to record the lowest, with running out of dollars to pay important imports including food, medicines and fuel -making millions of people unable to feed their families, trigger their cars or access basic medicines.
The island nation really needs an international monetary fund bailout (IMF) and talks for staff level agreements that begin here on Wednesday. Central Bank Governor Sri Lanka Nandalal Weetsinghe has expressed hope that the IMF facility will be available at the end of this year.
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