Registrations of motorcars during the month of January 2017 have been 3,101. When compared to the total registrations of motorcars during December 2016 which stood at 3,487 this is a drop of 11 percent, reveals a survey carried out by JB Securities.

Meanwhile, when compared to the total number of motor vehicles numbering 45,218 which had been registered in Sri Lanka during December 2017, the numbers registered during January are 42,443. This is a drop of 06 percent.

From among them, 31,158 have been for motorcycles.

The number of three-wheelers registered during January 2017 records 3,327 while it had been 6,057 during December 2016. This is a drop of 45 per cent.

The drop in registration of certain categories of vehicles is due to the restrictions on financing facilities for motor vehicles through the 2017 budgetary proposals, say JB Securities which carried out the survey.

The 2017 budget increased the Loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for new motorcars to 50 per cent and 25 per cent for three-wheelers.