Cabinet holds on price revisions for several essentials

The Cabinet of Ministers has reportedly not taken any decisions on price revisions of essential items including powdered milk, LP gas, wheat flour and cement.

It had been reported yesterday that the a decision would be taken with regard to the proposed revisions to the prices of several essential items, at the Cabinet meeting today. 

Meanwhile Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that the Cabinet decided to provide necessary funds from the Central Bank for the release of essential food items held up at the Colombo Port.

During the Cost of Living (CoL) Committee meeting held last week, the prime minister had instructed relevant authorities to immediately clear all essential food items currently in the port. 

The Cabinet today also decided to remove the price control imposed on rice and import a buffer stock of up to 100,000 MT of rice to prevent any possible shortage.

Accordingly, the Gazette notification issued imposing a maximum wholesale and retail price on rice has been cancelled, the government said.