Former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said that the government will remove palm oil prohibition in January 2024 correcting the previous policy decision taken by the previous Gotabaya Rajapksa regime in April 2021. .

Mr. Rajapaksa who was the then President ordered the ban on the importation of Palm Oil into Sri Lanka and its cultivation directing to up root the existing oil palm cultivations locally in 2021.

Mr. Karunanayake noted that he would talk to President Ranil Wickremesinghe and make sure that the ban is lifted while permitting palm oil cultivation in the country once again following consultations with experts in the industry.

The association of palm oil growers has informed the former finance minister that palm oil cultivation could generate more foreign exchange revenue than the entire income from tea and rubber.