Former Minister Udaya Gammanpila said that Sri Lanka witnessed the record increase in the price of fuel in history. This was due to many reasons apart from the increase in global fuel prices.
Mismanagement of foreign remittances, inability to restrict the import of non-essential items and not having an interest rate to meet inflation.
In March 2021, I proposed to establish a fuel price stability fund but the finance ministry didn’t approve it. If a bona fide price stability fund had been established, people wouldn’t have been taxed to this extent. The government earns around Rs.750 million from fuel taxes alone, he said.
(Daily Mirror)