Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila says that it is up to the Minister of Finance to decide on the fuel prices this budget month.
The minister said that they did not increase fuel prices despite incurring severe losses because they did not want to put more burden on the people who are already under immense pressure.
“But in this Budget month it’s up to the Finance Minister to decide the fuel prices,” he said when asked about fuel price hikes.
Speaking during a press briefing today (09), the minister also said that the demand for kerosene has doubled as of recently.
He said the reason for this is because a litre of diesel is sold at Rs. 111 while kerosene is priced at Rs. 77 per litre and that therefore machines in factories, boats and even buses are operating using kerosene instead of diesel these days.
He said that due to the massive gap in the prices of LP gas and kerosene, more people are preparing food using kerosene cookers instead of gas cookers.
The Energy Minister said that these days they have controlled the issuing of kerosene in areas where there are no farmers and fishermen communities.
