Economic challenges looming, says Ranil

UNP leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe warns that Sri Lankan economy will face tough challenges in the coming months.

Speaking to the media on Thursday he said that electricity tariff and fuel price will be further increased as a result of increasing losses of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).

“Last week the Minister of Power and Energy told Parliament that the losses of CEB in 2021 was Rs 79 billion. Some people say that this is an underestimate. The losses projected for 2022 is Rs 100 billion,” he said.

The loss incurred by the CPC for 2021 was Rs 83 billion.

“The daily loss of CPC is Rs 327 million. CPC losses are expected to be $ 80 million in a few months Losses will increase further because of the rupee devaluation,” he said.

Wickremesinghe said both institutions have borrowed heavily from the People’s Bank and Bank of Ceylon. The two state owned banks are burdened with Srilankan Airline’s debt as well, he said. Wickremesinghe said said Sri Lanka has not issued International Sovereign Bonds since 2019 April and this too has affected the banks.

The total amount due to the state banks is one trillion rupees, he said.

“There will be an electricity tariff hike and a fuel price hike to reduce the losses incurred. However, this leads to other problems. The people in this country have to bear this burden. So, we need to correct the situation as soon as possible,” he said.