Sri Lanka has deferred the ban on Asbestos until further review of the decision, highly placed government sources said. 

The decision has been made at the Cabinet meeting this morning, chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena. 

This comes a few days after Russia banned Sri Lanka's tea exports to the country following the detection of an insect. 

Many observers said Russia's ban on Sri Lanka's tea exports could be a veiled response to the Asbestos ban imposed in 2016. 

President Maithripala Sirisena took the lead in imposing the ban citing health concerns. 

While imposing the ban, Sirisena said when he was the Minister of Health, he had been presented several proposals to ban the importation of asbestos roofing sheets into the country. The President said he was unable to implement those proposals because of the influence of some high-ranking members of the then Government.