Central Bank, Finance Ministry assessing possible impact of Middle East war on Sri Lankan economy: President

• Central Bank will submit its report by today after reviewing the impact on the economy
• There is little chance of a crisis in fuel and gas sectors under current circumstances  
• President says the government is taking steps to increase fuel storage facilities in the country

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera

While claiming that the government is closely monitoring the developing situation in the Middle East region, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday the government is taking steps to face possible issues where reports have been called from the Central Bank and the Finance Ministry on possible impact to the Sri Lankan economy and finance sector.  

Making a special statement in Parliament, he said the Central Bank will submit its report by today after reviewing the impact on the economy while the Finance Ministry is also preparing a report on possible impact on the economy.  

He also said the Foreign Ministry and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) are taking steps to ensure security and provide necessary facilities for the Sri Lankan expatriates in the Middle East region.  

The President said hotline services have been launched in all the Sri Lankan embassies in Middle East, SLBFE and the Foreign Ministry to provide required facilities.  

He said the government, Parliament and people must face this situation with a single objective.  

The President assured that there is little chance of a crisis in fuel and gas sectors under current circumstances adding that the government has taken steps to address the issues. 

He said if the situation in the Middle East aggravates, Sri Lanka also will have to face a dire situation like other countries in the world.  

He said Sri Lanka has limited storage facilities for fuel and pointed out that the total storage capacity of Kolonnawa and Muthurajawela storages is only 150,000 tonnes.  

“We had managed our storage facilities effectively when the Middle East situation occurred,” he said.  

The President said Sri Lanka has no buffer stock like other countries and that the government is taking steps to increase storage facilities in the country.  

He said Sri Lanka has storage facilities for gas also which created gas shortage in the country recently.  

The President said Sri Lanka has only 8,000 tonnes of gas which is only sufficient for five days and added that the government has planned to obtain 15,000 tonnes from the private storage (LAUGFS Terminals) in Hambantota on a temporary basis.  

“The private storage facility in Hambantota has 30,000 tonnes. I talked to them this morning and they agreed to provide us with 15,000 tonnes of gas to the local market. It is a BOI company and they need to pay all the due taxes,” he said.   He said according to the agreement signed with the LAUGFS Gas, they could provide only 20 percent from their total exports and added that the company could not supply gas to the local market as their exports collapsed recently.  

He said however, the government decided to allow the company to provide gas to the local market disregarding the condition. “I decided to extend the state of emergency mainly for this reason. We will change the regulations to allow the company to provide gas to the local market disregarding the condition of 20 percent from their total exports,” he said.  

The President said the Litro gas company has ordered 100,000 gas cylinders to meet the shortfall of empty gas cylinders in the market.