Govt poised to reduce oil import bill
Dharma Sri Abeyratne
Colombo: The Government is planning to introduce a fuel
management mechanism which is being adopted globally to cope with the
increasing fuel crisis.
Accordingly, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has asked Ministers to
forward proposals on how to bring down the rising fuel expenditure which
could otherwise be channelled for development work. Addressing the
weekly Cabinet press briefing Media and Information Minister Anura
Priyadarshana Yapa said the Government's intention was to establish a
fuel saving culture which would vastly reduce the current fuel import
bill running into billions of rupees.
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Media and Information Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa
addressing the Cabinet briefing. |
He pointed out that the crude oil price has increased from US$ 62 in
May 2007 to US$ 136 by April 2008. "Although the UNP displayed a
childish attitude to the burning issue such as staging bullock-cart
protests they have totally forgotten how they introduced a price formula
to reflect price fluctuations in the world market. If the price formula
was to be implemented the price of a litre of petrol will be more than
Rs. 180," Minister Yapa said.
The crude oil price has increased 100 per cent in just five years.
The amount is more than the amount paid for Government servants'
salaries for a whole year.
In addition to fuel, the world price of gas, cement, milk powder,
rice, wheat flour and most other commodities too have increased, Trade,
Marketing Development, Co-operatives, Consumer services Minister Bandula
Gunawardana said.
The Government has made arrangements to issue Red-Nadu and White Rice
through co-operative outlets at Rs. 60 from next Monday throughout the
country.
Even though milk powder marketing companies expected a price increase
of Rs. 25, the Government has not yet allowed them to increase the
price. With a view to bring down the cement price, the Government took a
timely decision to import cement from quality producers. As the result,
the retail price of a bag of cement is Rs. 699 while the wholesale price
remains Rs. 685. Cement is freely available at all BMC outlets, Minister
Gunawardena said. |
