Sri Lanka raise fuel prices after IMF loan instalment
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka raised fuel prices by up to 6% on Sunday (May 31), in line with IMF plans to recover energy costs and phase out subsidies to stabilize the economy.
Petrol was raised to 434 rupees ($1.33), up from 410, while diesel increased to 407 rupees a litre from 392, the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) said.
The price hike came days after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a $695 million instalment of a $2.9 billion bailout loan, agreed in early 2023 to stabilize the cash-strapped South Asian nation.
The IMF wants Sri Lanka to ensure cost recovery for both fuel and electricity tariffs, which have been subsidised by the government since the start of the conflict in the Middle East in February.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in a letter to the IMF made public by the Washington-based international lender, said fuel subsidies will be phased out by September.
Since the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on February 28, triggering a global energy crisis, Sri Lanka has raised petrol and diesel prices by about 48%. Electricity has increased by a third.
The Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which about 20% of global oil exports pass in peacetime, has been effectively closed by Iran.
Sri Lanka imports all its oil and also buys coal for electricity generation.
Colombo has warned that the fighting in the Middle East, and any prolonged conflict, could seriously undermine its efforts to emerge from the economic meltdown of 2022.
Sri Lanka defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt in 2022 after running out of foreign exchange. Since then, Colombo has been drawing down the IMF bailout loan to stabilise the country.
-AFP
Fuel prices rise as Colombo moves to end subsidies under IMF bailout terms – gulfnews.com
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