Lanka raises fuel prices by 15%; to enlist foreign firms to ease shortages

Sri Lanka hiked fuel prices on Sunday, creating further pain for ordinary people as officials from the US arrived for talks aimed at alleviating the island’s dire economic crisis.

Ceylon Petroleum Corpor­tion (CPC) said it raised the price of diesel, used widely in public transport, by 15 percent to 460 rupees ($1.27) a litre while upping petrol 22 percent to 550 rupees ($1.52).

The announcement came a day after Energy Minister Kan­chana Wijesekera said there would be an indefinite delay in getting new shipments of oil.

Wijesekera said oil due last week had not turned up while shipments scheduled to arrive next week