Sri Lanka’s automobile sales have fallen sharply due to high interest rates and import duty, taxes including VAT on imports as well as the refusal of banks and financial institutions to grant leasing facilities.
Bidding for the South Container Terminal, part of the Colombo Port Expansion Project, has come under some criticism from the industry after huge declines in domestic and transshipment volumes in February 2009. However, the project which is being partially funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is ‘progressing nicely’, according to ADB Country Director Richard Vokes.
