President directs essential commodities at reasonable prices for festive season

President Maithripala Sirisena has directed the relevant officials to take steps to provide essential commodities to consumers at reasonable prices during this festive season. The President has also instructed them not to allow any shortages of essential commodities to occur in the market during the festive period, the President’s Media Division said.

The President gave these instructions during a special discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday, to discuss the cost of living during the upcoming festive season. Representatives from the associations of importers of essential commodities, Ministerial Secretaries, as well as officials from the Finance and Trade Ministries also participated in the discussion.  During the meeting, attention was drawn towards providing every possible relief to the public during the festive season, by selling essential goods at concessionary prices through ‘Sathosa’. 

The implementation of a system to provide consumers with the benefits from the fuel price reduction in the global market was also discussed at the meeting, the PMD said.