Despite the government earning a profit of about Rs. 01 from each litre of diesel, there is no possibility to drop the price of diesel at the moment, said Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara, responding to a query by Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Kings Nelson in Parliament yesterday (03).
“The Singapore Flat Average in the global market and the imported price is considered. Now, there is a profit of about Rs. 01 per litre, but we cannot drop the price by Rs. 10 – 15 at the moment. Because, had we done that, we may lose money to purchase the diesel stocks required for next necessities,” the Minister said.
Wijesekara went on: “And, we were able to drop the price of petrol because we earned a profit of about Rs. 70 during the last imports. But we cannot predict the price of fuel on the sole basis of crude oil price. Because we do not fulfill our total requirement by the refinery alone.”
MIAP
