Government likely...

Petroleum Resource Development Ministry Secretary Upali Marasinghe yesterday said that a pricing formula is essential if CEYPETCO is to remain sustainable.

The Finance Ministry had promised the International Monetary Fund to implement a cost reflective price formula for fuel by March 2018, and a similar mechanism for electricity by September 2018 as a condition for the US$ 1.5 billion loan taken for balance of payment support, after failing to implement the formulas in December 2016 as originally envisaged.

Ranatunga yesterday said that the government has not undertaken even one step towards formulating the pricing mechanism, since the Cabinet first has to approve the exploration of such a mechanism.

However, according to the CEYPETCO 2017 Action Plan, a formula which ‘is more equitably applicable to Sri Lanka’s economy, fuel consumers as well as the petroleum sector’ was developed by a committee of experts in 2015 and submitted to the cabinet, where it has been held pending ‘further consideration’ throughout 2016.

In early 2017, the then Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake had said that a pricing formula was submitted to the Cabinet but it was shot down since it had not met the government expectations. According to the IMF, without pricing mechanisms for electricity and fuel, Sri Lanka would remain vulnerable to a massive debt shock. trading below 6,500.”

Turnover was Rs. 1.4 billion (US$8.97 million), more than this year’s daily average of around Rs.936.4 million.

Shares in Ceylon Tobacco Co Plc rose 2.9 percent, Ceylon Cold Stores Plc climbed 4.1 percent and conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc closed 0.3 percent higher.

Foreign investors sold a net RS.24.9 million worth of shares, but they have been net buyers of Rs.7.3 billion worth of equities so far this year.