Fuel Crisis: Market pricing, targeted subsidies ahead By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s):Sri Lanka’s long-troubled fuel sector is once again under scrutiny, as policymakers and energy analysts push for a decisive break from the QR rationing system and loss-making price controls. The earlier fuel pass system, introduced at the height of the 2022 economic crisis, is now widely acknowledged to have outlived its purpose. At the same time, the government’s pricing formula designed to shield consumers placed an unsustainable burden on the state, particularly on the debt-ridden Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). “It becomes less about fuel and more about access.”Likewise, the cost-reflective pricing formula has come under criticism for its inability to react promptly to oil price volatility in the world market and local fuel market and tax conditions. Private operators would be allowed to set fuel prices based on global costs, with the government maintaining only a protective price ceiling.

Source: Sunday Times March 22, 2026 01:43 UTC