The Fuel Price Stabilisation Fund set up in April 2020 to ensure that local retail fuel prices remain unaffected by global oil price fluctuations, has been exhausted, The Morning reported.
According to sources from the Ministry of Energy, the said fund, which had accumulated between Rs. 18 and Rs. 20 billion at one point, is currently empty.
They said the fund had been used to settle outstanding payments owed by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). Thereafter, the relevant amount has been used by the CPC to settle a loan due to the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) and People’s Bank.
Amidst this development, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila has submitted a proposal to the Cabinet of Ministers in April to re-establish the fund, for which Cabinet approval is yet to be granted.
The fund was established by Minister of Trade Bandula Guanwardena in March and April 2020 as a solution to regular fluctuations in local retail fuel prices and local consumers being burdened by high fuel prices due to increases in world oil prices.
The fund was established to be utilised to absorb both profit and loss by maintaining fuel prices unchanged through all fluctuations. As per the Cabinet paper submitted at the time, Rs. 50 billion was to be provided to the CEB from the fund, and the CPC would supply crude oil to the CEB at a rate of Rs. 70 per litre.
Against this backdrop, the Energy Ministry has announced that fuel prices would be revised with effect from midnight on 11 June, 2021.
Accordingly, the new price of 92 octane petrol is Rs. 157 per litre, while the new price of 95 octane petrol is Rs. 184 per litre. The new price of auto diesel is Rs. 111 per litre, and the new price of super diesel is Rs. 144 per litre. The new price of a litre of kerosene is Rs. 77. (NewsWire)