PM Ranil Wickremesinghe says he does not have the fuel price formula

Colombo (News1st) - Fuel prices changed once again tonight (Oct 10th) inline with the mysterious fuel price formula which is yet to be released to the general public. Since it was introduced fuel prices have risen on a number of occasions. The formula itself has been kept a secret by the Government, although recently several ministers came out in public to state that they would release the formula soon. Chief Opposition Whip and Leader of the JVP raised several questions in Parliament today regarding the fuel price formula. The questions which were directed to PM Ranil Wickremesinghe included questions such as, *) Will the price formula be presented to Parliament? *) Is the fluctuation of the Dollar taken into consideration when determining the price? *) Has the price formula been approved by Parliament? The Prime Minister responded to these questions by stating that cabinet approval was granted on the 11th of May 2018 and went onto note that a special committee was appointed to implement the formula on 10th of June. The PM noted that fuel price changes take place in India on a daily basis but noted that Sri Lanka lacks the technology to implement such a system. When MP Anura Kumara accused the Prime Minister of dancing around the question and avoiding a direct answer the PM stated that the technical aspect of the fuel price formula should be discussed with the subject minister. He stated that while the price of a barrel of crude oil is around $ 80 at present there is no way of saying how much it would increase by November. The JVP leader went onto explain that he was forced to ask this question from the Prime Minister himself because the formula was not tabled in Parliament and because RTI requests to gain acess to the formula were denied. At this instance, the Prime Minister was heard saying "I don't have it. Get it from the Minister." When the MP questioned why taxes imposed on fuel are not reduced to maintain a steady fuel price the prime minister responded in this manner "If you know what the formula is, why are you asking me? In Nigeria even while having fuel, their prices are sometimes higher than ours."