The government has been able to save around USD 300 million from the recent fuel increase, said State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms, Ajith Nivard Cabraal.
He also ruled out any possibilities to bring down fuel prices since the global oil prices have not dipped and is in the USD 75 per barrel mark. The Minister
said that due to the escalating fuel prices and several other overheads the Petroleum Corporation is facing major loss and has to pay huge debt and interest to State banks and state institutions. “There are also other urgent infrastructure measures that have to be addressed and the recent oil price hike will provide some kind of consolation to this.
Cabraal said this decision was something the government was forced to do or it would have had more negative impacts. “Fuel prices in Sri Lanka remain to be the lowest prices in South Asia, even after the fuel price hike,” he emphasised. The Minister noted that the government was taking several meaningful steps to strengthen the rupee.
“Currently some exporters are not keen to convert their Foreign Exchange and also importers are keen to import items in larger numbers. These have resulted in the devaluation of the SL Rupee but it would soon appreciate.”
Cabraal added that a US$ one billion debt service obligation is due at the end of the month and part of the reserves and other funding will be used to settle this.
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