Colombo, Dec.7- A total of 900 licenses have been issued for the import of electric vehicles based on the amount of money legally sent to Sri Lanka by expatriate workers, Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara said.

He said that by issuing licenses, it has been possible to bring in an amount of USD 100 million into the country.

"We have introduced an electric vehicle licensing scheme to increase foreign exchange earnings, whereby we have issued licenses to nearly nine hundred electric vehicles. More than USD 100 million have come into the country through this effort," the Minister said.

"Even though the President had requested thrice to extend the period of issuing Letters of Credit (LCs) to import vehicles, the officials at the Finance Ministry had not taken any action to implement it. The same officials have been there at the Finance Ministry during the tenure of former Presidents Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa. We are not aware of the political agenda of these officials," the Minister added.