Fuel prices to go up again?

The joint fuel price formula of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) would be presented to the Cabinet next week, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said today.

He told Parliament that the fuel price formula would be presented to minimise the loss incurred by the CPC.

"The price formula will be presented not to cover the total loss but to cover some amount of the loss incurred by the CPC. We will be able to find Dollars to import the next fuel shipment only if we do so," he said.

The Minister said the CPC was not earning profit even after the recent fuel price increase.

He said the Dollar was Rs. 330 when fuel prices were last increased and added that it has gone upto Rs. 360 today. "Crude oil prices at the global market has not gone down. We sepnt only US$ 120 million to import fuel per month two years ago. We estimate it to cost US$ 585 million this month," he said. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)