No Customs charges

ZIZ News — Hundreds of shoppers are at the port this season taking advantage of the duty free allowance for December.

For the next few weeks, any personal item costing less than US $200 can be cleared without duty.

Senior Assistant Comptroller of Customs, Kennedy de Silva says more people have been coming to clear their goods since the waiver was put in place.

“We’re seeing a real increase at the courier facility for sure. There are lot of people who are buying electronics and everything so we are seeing a lot of people benefitting from this and they seem generally appreciative,” he said.

He says the mood among the shoppers has been very upbeat as well.

De Silva says the Customs Department will be making it more convenient for importers by staying open extra hours during the week and opening on Saturday.

He added, “We’re also going to be open on Saturday; that’s this Saturday coming; from 9pm until 1 o’clock so we make sure that if you are busy in the week enjoying your VAT day, you can still come up on Saturday and get it done.”

De Silva says the duty free allowance is scheduled to run until the end of December but they may extend it to the first few days of January to make sure everyone enjoys the full holiday season.