Sri Lanka’s expenditure on vehicle imports reached its third-highest level in history in 2025, according to the Central Bank’s Annual Economic Review for 2025.

With the gradual easing of motor vehicle import restrictions, all limitations on private vehicle imports had been fully lifted by January 2025.

The government also introduced several tariff and non-tariff policy measures to manage the expected surge in demand after years of restrictions.

Despite these measures, vehicle imports increased significantly during 2025, reflecting recovering consumer demand and renewed economic activity following the prolonged import controls.

A sharp rise in imports was particularly recorded after April 2025, with both private and commercial vehicle categories contributing to a total import expenditure of USD 2.04 billion.

This represents the third-highest annual vehicle import bill on record, behind USD 2.12 billion in 2015 and USD 2.09 billion in 2018.