Wednesday, 19 March 2014 00:55
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By Ashwin Hemmathagama
Our Lobby Correspondent
To keep fuel supplies uninterrupted, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has obtained Rs. 631 billion worth of loans during June 2011 – December 2012, increasing its accumulated losses, Minister of Petroleum Industries Anura Priyadharshana Yapa told the Parliament yesterday in response to a question for oral answers raised by JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
According to Minister Yapa, these creditors are the two state banks – Bank of Ceylon and the Peoples Bank in addition to National Iranian Oil Company, which extended a credit facility in 2011. “We have paid Rs.35 billion as interest,” confirmed the Minister who looks at reducing the debt by increasing the prices of petroleum products in the near future.
Highlighting the factors forcing CPC to run at a loss MP Dissanayake saw the “ongoing politicisation” a key drawback compared with the profit making competitor Lanka IOC. “CPC is nothing more than a public burden. CPC is fully dependent on the two state banks. Lanka IOC as well as the CPC both import petroleum and you continue to make loss. The management is inefficient,” said MP Dissanayake.
