PM to head CoL meeting today

• CoL Committee to decide if prices of essential goods will be increased 
• Essential food importers say 800 containers with dhal, garlic, canned fish, cumin, dairy products, sugar and many others stuck at Colombo Port

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa will lead the Cost-of-Living (CoL) Committee meeting today which will decide on the essential goods price hike and resolve certain issues related to import containers stuck at Colombo Port.

“The decision to increase prices of rice, milk powder, gas, wheat flour and cement will be taken at the CoL meeting today,” State Minister of Cooperative Services, Marketing Development and Consumer Protection Lasantha Alagiyawanna told journalists yesterday.

He said the decision to increase the prices or not will be taken by the Government after evaluating all factors. He  noted that  shortage of milk powder, cement, wheat flour and LPG  has led to a problematic situation.

“We hope to also get approval for some of the proposals made by the Consumer Affairs Authority’s (CAA) Price Committee,” Alagiyawanna added.

Meanwhile, the Essential Food Importers Association said that there are about 800 containers of essential items in the Port of Colombo which are unable to be cleared due to foreign exchange crisis. 

“We have problems as banks continues to say that they have no dollars. We are unable to get the containers released,” they lamented.

The State Minister also acknowledged that there are 800 imported containers with essential goods at Colombo Port.

Food items including dhal, garlic, canned fish, cumin, dairy products, sugar are stuck at Colombo Port.

The importers said they are hopeful that the Government will take a favourable decision following the CoL Committee and resolve the foreign exchange crisis.