The Hon. (Prof.) Anil Jayantha
Vehicle imports in 2025 will be managed to support economic expansion while staying within IMF-related reserve constraints and prioritizing passenger, goods, and private transport needs. The Minister stated that the Government has not decided to cancel or invalidate vehicle permits for eligible officials, but allowing all estimated 15,000–20,000 outstanding permits at once would undermine 2025 economic targets. He said any review of past permit arrangements as compensation for inadequate pay or benefits would be considered separately.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 As stated, vehicle imports are to support economic expansion, within constraints and priorities (passenger, goods, private transport). In 2025 we operate under IMF parameters, including reserve limits set by the Central Bank.
¶ 02 There is no Government decision to cancel or invalidate vehicle permits of eligible officials. Past measures may have been compensatory for inadequate pay/benefits; those can be reviewed separately. Presently, given constraints and priorities, allowing all outstanding permits—estimated at 15,000–20,000—would undermine 2025 targets. This is a matter of prioritization, not cancellation. We will consider these factors going forward.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 23 January 2025 ·No. 1738314169039521 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Prof.) Anil Jayantha. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 23 January 2025. No. 1738314169039521. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/10494