Sri Lanka’s state owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) posted losses of Rs. 95 billion, according to Managing Director Susantha De Silva, while a government minister insisted that a high quality service was being provided, ruling out privatisation of the company.
According to De Silva, the losses were due to the subsidising of fuel and delay in payment by state services, despite several hikes in fuel prices in the last year alone.
Debtors included the Ceylon Electricity Board (due to which De Silva claimed to incur losses of Rs. 4.2 billion per month), the national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines (owing Rs 21 billion), the Defence Ministry (owing Rs 14 billion) and Sri Lanka Railway (owing Rs 5 billion).
Meanwhile the also state-owned Daily News reported that Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha said the government “will never privatise any institution” and plans on “providing a high quality service“ from the CPC.
He went on to say,
"Under the Mahinda Chinthana Policy of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the privatisation of all institutions that were under the purview of the Petroleum Industries Ministry has been completely stopped"