Government reluctant to release the secretive fuel price formula - Gammanpila

Colombo (News1st) - Addressing an event in Colombo on Thursday (Sept 27), Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera hinted that fuel prices could be revised once again on the 10th of October in keeping with the trend that the Government has followed over the past months after the introduction of the fuel pricing formula. The looming warning that he gave was "prepare yourselves." On Friday, MP Udaya Gammanpila filed an appeal under the Right to Information Act with the Ministry of Finance seeking information on the fuel price formula. Speaking to reporters the Parliamentarian stated that the people of the country have a right to know why they are paying high prices for fuel. He stated that the information officer at the Department of Fiscal policy at the Ministry of Finance had stated that the release of the formula would cause negative effects to the national economy and as such, they could not reveal it. Gammanpila stated that they then escalated the request to the Director General of the Department of Fiscal Policy, adding that he too has indicated that their request would be denied. The MP stated that if the request is officially denied they would escalate the matter to the RTI commission and could even take it up with the Supreme Court if they do not receive a proper response.