Customs duty on bus, lorry, truck imports repealed

In a bid to upgrade the standards of tourist and passenger services, the government has repealed the Customs duty on the imports of buses, lorries and trucks as in the 2012 budget proposals presented by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Minister of Finance last year.

The Ministry of Finance and Planning in a media communique yesterday said that the Customs duty on the import of lorry bodies and tyres for lorries and buses has also been reduced to ensure a high standard of transport service.

Excerpts from the release: Measures have been taken to repeal the Custom import duties in the importation of buses, lorries and trucks to encourage importation of buses to maintain a high standard of tourist and passenger services and to implement an efficient transport service of goods.

In addition, measures have been taken to abolish the Custom import duty charged in the importation of new lorry bodies and to reduce the Custom import duty charged in the importation of the tyres used for lorries and buses by 50 percent.

These taxes have been revised in terms of the proposals put forward through the budget 2012 by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.