brand logo

Fuel crisis: Fresh $ 500 m Indian LOC yet to be finalised

05 Jun 2022

  • Previous Indian LOC for fuel exhausted
By Maheesha Mudugamuwa The Indian Line of Credit (LOC) worth $ 500 million, the third to be requested by Sri Lanka for the purchase of fuel, is yet to be finalised, The Sunday Morning learns. It is learnt that the full quota given for the purchase of fuel under the previous $ 1 billion Indian LOC has already been exhausted. “We have requested another $ 500 million credit line for the purchasing of fuel, but it has not yet been finalised,” Treasury Deputy Secretary R.M.P. Rathnayake said. He told The Sunday Morning that from the previous $ 1 billion LOC, the sum allocated for fuel had already been utilised. “There is an allocation for medicines and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as well,” Rathnayake said. According to Rathnayake, the LOC will be utilised to purchase petrol, diesel, and crude oil. As kerosene is now being produced in Sri Lanka, kerosene will not be imported to the country. The fresh LOC is in addition to the $ 500 million extended previously. In addition to this credit line, India has offered another $ 1 billion line of credit for essential imports. However, $ 200 million of it had been utilised for fuel imports by the Sri Lankan authorities. In this manner, Sri Lanka has almost exhausted nearly $ 700 million in terms of Indian credit so far for diesel and petrol. A total of close to 4,00,000 MT of various types of fuel have been delivered with Indian assistance in March and April. Last month, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera told the media that Sri Lanka needed an estimated $ 500 million a month for fuel, power, transportation, electricity generation, and industrial use.     


More News..