CB says no reason for power cuts as funds released for fuel imports 

The Central Bank last week ruled out the possibility for shortages of fuel and other commodities, as required funds had been released every time a request was made that containers remained stuck due to the dollar shortage. 

Responding particularly to the case of fuel inadequacy to generate electricity by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal on Thursday said while the fuel supply has been restored for eight days to generate thermal power, the coming few days provide them the space to plan for the days thereafter.  The Indian government has announced a US$ 500 million credit line for Sri Lanka to purchase fuel from India and another billion dollars in the pipeline for other essential imports such as food and medicine. 

“When you say you have fuel for eight days, we have time to deal with what we are going to do after eight days. We will do that,” Cabraal stressed. “You can’t stock oil for eighty days. We don’t have places to store that much as well. It is a dynamic operation,” he added. 

However, that is poor management of national affairs and unacceptable from the public interest point of view. 

 “It’s the government’s duty to provide these goods and services and they will provide them,” Cabraal assured. 

The CEB Engineers Union said yesterday (January 23) that one to two-hour power cuts could return from today (January 24) under four categories.

Sri Lanka’s foreign currency and energy crises were in the making for decades. Excessive unionisation at the CEB and the short-sightedness and opportunism of politicians have prevented the country from setting up new power plants to meet the demand, barring a few mini hydros.

Sri Lanka needs to decisively dismantle some of the key State monopolies to get rid of waste, theft, inefficacy, and corruption that have got entrenched in these institutions.