At a media briefing on December 23, MP Vijitha Herath raised this issue.

A petrol litre is sold at Rs. 117 after Rs. 64.41 of taxes included, and for diesel the taxes amount to Rs. 28.02 and a litre is sold at Rs. 95, he noted.

A JVP spokesman said the people would be taken to the streets to pressurize the government to reduce fuel prices.

When contacted, a CPC spokesman said that as demanded by the JVP, they could not reduce local prices, soon after world prices are reduced.

No country reduces fuel prices, and the profits earned are used for development purposes, he said, adding that the money did not go to the pockets of government authorities.

Further reduction in world prices

The Central Bank says in a report that world oil prices will remain low in 2016, and the CPC’s financial situation will improve during the year.

There will be an increase in the OPEC’s production and Iran’s supply due to the easing of economic restrictions imposed on the country.

There is a reduction in demand due to a slowness of the Chinese economy and the world economy returning to normalcy, said the CB report.