COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will relax restrictions on imports of vehicles required for transportation of goods and passengers this week, State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said on Sunday.

The state minister told the media that the import restrictions on vehicles such as trucks and buses would be lifted, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Sri Lankan government restricted the import of 1,465 items in August 2022 due to the economic crisis but lifted restrictions on most of those items on several separate occasions.

Official data show that Sri Lanka's total import expenditure in 2022 amounted to over 18 billion US dollars, recording a decline of 11.4 per cent from 2021.