Deputy Finance Minister Anil Jayantha has urged the public to cut personal fuel consumption, citing higher oil import bills that continue to put depreciation pressure on the rupee despite the fuel quota system already in place.
Sri Lanka has raised fuel prices four times by a cumulative 40 percent since the Middle East escalation began on February 28 and reintroduced the QR code-based quota system last used during the 2022 crisis. Even so, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has spent around $1 billion on fuel imports in the first four months of 2026 — roughly two-thirds of the full $1.5 billion 2025 bill — Central Bank Deputy Governor Chandranath Amarasekara told parliament’s Committee on Public Finance last week.
“Now the volume increase is gradually coming down to the normal level, but it is advisable from the country’s point of view to economize your personal use,” the deputy minister told reporters in Colombo on Saturday.
“Even though the volume would be at the normal level, we still have to pay a higher price. So how best we can tackle this issue is if we can further reduce the consumption on our own behaviour, and if necessary, the government would also take some other measures.”
If consumption can be pushed below the normal pre-war baseline, the fuel bill can be managed within the expected foreign exchange envelope, he said.
The plea comes as the government rolls out a Rs. 57 billion three-month subsidy on diesel and petrol, and as the rupee selling rate jumped to Rs. 334 at major banks on Monday. The International Energy Agency separately warned on Monday that global commercial oil stocks were depleting “very fast” as the Gulf war drags on.
Sources: EconomyNext.
