No gas price hike for next two months - Minister

Irangika Range

The Government has decided not to increase the price of domestic gas for the next two months as a relief measure to the public especially in view of the Sinhala and Hindu New year, Trade, Marketing Development, Co-operatives and Consumer Affairs Minister Bandula Gunawardena said.

The Minister said President Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to remove the taxes imposed on gas imports to help distributors absorb any loss.

Addressing a media conference in Colombo yesterday, the Minister said the prices of a cylinder of both Shell and Laugfs gas will remain unchanged for the next two months despite both Shell Gas Company and Laugfs Company seeking an increase in the price by Rs 224 and Rs 198.

According to this decision, the price of a 12.5 kg domestic Shell gas cylinder will remain unchanged at Rs 1,550 while the price of a 12.5kg domestic Laugfs gas cylinder will remain at Rs 1,421. The Minister said the Government has decided to stabilize gas prices to provide relief to the public for the Sinhala and Hindu New Year and not targeting the General Election.

Though both Shell and Laugfs Companies requested for a price hike on several occasions since last year November, the Government decided to not to make any changes to the prices of Shell and Laugfs gas, as it wanted to provide relief to the public in the aftermath of the war.

Accordingly, the Government has been able to stabilise the gas prices continuously for the past six months by showing its commitments to relief the people.