COLOMBO: Sri Lanka slashed cooking gas prices yesterday just one day after the cost of diesel and petrol was also cut ahead of next month’s presidential election.
The ministry of internal trade said it was reducing the price of a standard cylinder of gas used for cooking by 11.6 percent to Rs1,896 ($14.50) from yesterday, the second such cut in recent months. The loss-making state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation announced on Saturday it was cutting diesel and gasoline prices by nearly five percent, also the second recent reduction.
It denied the move was an election sweetener instructed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government, insisting the cut was connected to falling global oil prices.
The reduction comes despite the fact that the corporation has accumulated losses of Rs240bn ($1.84bn), according to company officials.
AFP
