CPC seeks Rs.217bn from Treasury to fund oil shipments

Even though the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) is following a cost-reflective price formula, under which fuel prices were revised upwards significantly several times, the utility still has a cash flow issue, the Central Bank Governor Dr.Nandalal Weersinghe said. 

“They do not have enough rupees to buy dollars,” Dr. Weerasinghe said. “CPC is asking Rs.217 billion from the Treasury.”

Dr. Weerasinghe identified the delay in Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) tariff revisions as a key reason behind the pressure exerted on the Central Bank to print money. 

“We are facing the consequences of not raising prices on time,” he said. “We have to do these reforms.”
The CB Governor stressed that they alone cannot put the economy on to the right track and it is key that the required fiscal reforms are being carried out in tandem with the monetary adjustments.