The Cabinet has approved a three-month fuel relief programme worth up to Rs. 40.65 billion, aimed at holding diesel prices down as global oil prices rise amid continuing conflict in the Middle East.
The proposal was submitted by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in his capacity as Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, the Daily Mirror reported.
What it covers
The assistance applies to Auto Diesel and Industrial Diesel. Its purpose is to keep retail prices affordable so that international price swings are not passed directly to consumers.
The allocation is capped month by month:
| Month | Maximum allocation |
|---|---|
| October | Rs. 15 billion |
| November | Rs. 13.5 billion |
| December | Rs. 12.15 billion |
| Total | Rs. 40.65 billion |
A deliberate taper
The three figures are not arbitrary. Each month’s ceiling is exactly 10% below the one before — 15 × 0.9 = 13.5, and 13.5 × 0.9 = 12.15. The programme is built to wind down rather than to hold a flat level of support, which suggests the government is treating this as a transition rather than an open-ended commitment.
The caps are ceilings, not spending commitments. What is actually paid out depends on where global prices sit at each monthly price revision.
Petrol is not included
This package covers diesel only. That is a change from the previous round in May, which subsidised Rs. 100 per litre on diesel and Rs. 20 per litre on petrol and carried a Rs. 57 billion allocation announced by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.
These are two different packages — a point worth stating plainly, because “three-month fuel subsidy” headlines have now appeared twice this year. The discriminators for today’s decision are the amount (Rs. 40.65bn), the months (October–December), the tapering structure, and the exclusion of petrol.
Not reported
The Daily Mirror does not give a per-litre subsidy rate, which the earlier round did. It does not say what the relief costs per litre at current import prices, how the money will be funded, or whether it counts against any wider relief envelope. It does not report whether the programme extends beyond December.
Sourcing note
This article is single-sourced. Ada Derana also reported the decision — its filing is headlined around the October allocation alone — but its site returned a CloudFront 403 block to our fetcher and could not be verified, so it is not cited here. Newswire also carried the story; it is not on our verified list. No other verified newsroom had filed at the time of writing.
Reader comments appended to the Daily Mirror report argue about VAT and fuel taxes. Those are readers’ opinions, not reporting, and none of it is reflected above.