The Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal has reportedly submitted to the Government a proposal to prevent the country’s economy from collapsing in the face of the fuel crisis caused by the dollar shortage.
Lankadeepa Newspaper reported that Ajith Nivard Cabraal has submitted the proposal to the government at the special cabinet meeting held last Tuesday to discuss the fuel crisis in the country.
The Central Bank has also proposed to immediately stop lending to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) as it will be difficult to prevent the collapse of the two banks if they continue to lend to the CPC.
It is reported that the Petroleum Corporation owes about Rs. 560 billion (US $ 280 million) to the two state banks.
With this situation, the Central Bank has suggested to take alternate measures as further lending to the CPC could lead to the collapse of the two banks and a serious crisis in the economy.
The Central Bank has also proposed to the government to increase fuel prices significantly to minimize the losses incurred by the CPC on fuel sales.
It has also proposed to reduce the number of working days per week to 4 and increasing the working hours per day.
Accordingly, it has been proposed to revise the working hours to 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. It has also suggested that employees working within institutions should be allowed to work from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm and leave for homes early.
The Central Bank has also requested that the use of private vehicles be discouraged and encourage to use public transport. Accordingly, its proposal calls for a major media campaign too, to educate the public on the crisis and the need to use fuel sparingly. (NewsWire)