Economic woes bound to worsen, warns Ranil

One-time Prime Minister and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe warned on Thursday that Sri Lankan economy would face tougher challenges in the coming months.

Wickremesinghe said electricity tariff and fuel prices would have to be further increased as a result of increasing losses of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).

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

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

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

Wickremesinghe said both institutions had borrowed heavily from the People’s Bank and Bank of Ceylon. The two state owned banks were burdened with Srilankan Airlines as well, he said. Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka had not issued International Sovereign Bonds since 2019 April and that too had affected the banks. The total amount due to the state banks was one trillion rupees.

“There will be an electricity tariff hike and further fuel price hikes to reduce losses. These measures will lead to other problems. The people in this country will have to bear this burden. So, we need to remedy the situation as soon as possible,” he said.