The latest fuel price hike is a step taken to stabilize the national economy, bank interest rates, and foreign reserves as well as to secure and improve the health and welfare of the public, President’s Media Division said.

Issuing a statement, the PMD stated that the Cabinet Sub Committee on Cost of Living chaired by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, with the participation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Ministers in charge of the subject, focused on a number of key reasons for the increase in fuel prices.

These price increases are just one key factor in a common plan to strengthen the local economy, the PMD said.

It is a decision to strengthen the country’s banking system, maintain low interest rates, reduce foreign exchange spending, strengthen the exchange rate, secure the health and well-being of the people, and transform the import-dependent consumer economy into an investment and consumption economy based on domestic production, PMD further said.