JVP Politburo Member K.D. Lal Kantha yesterday said that the government increased the prices of vehicles because the country's foreign reserves were depleting and the country lacks dollars.

Speaking at the Ceylon Postal Workers' Union Annual General Meeting yesterday, Lal Kantha said that importation of vehicles was depleting the foreign reserves even faster.

The government lacks funds to pay back its debts and therefore has to plead for further debts and grants, he added.

Although much publicity is given to the warm welcome accorded to President Sirisena at the G-7 outreach summit, his purpose was to ask for even more loans, Lal Kantha also claimed.