INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Two amendments have been made to the agreements signed between Sri Lanka and its new fuel suppliers.Accordingly, it has been decided that
the conversion of Sri Lankan Rupees (LKR) to US Dollars (USD) must take place immediately with regard to money earned from fuel sales, while
50 imposed per litre of fuel will replace the 1% royalty fee imposed on suppliers, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said in
Parliament.Speaking with regards to the first amendment, the Minister explained that albeit the initial condition mandating that funds being
brought into Sri Lanka be maintained as LKR in an account for a period of nine months, after which it may be converted to USD, the Central
Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) recently suggested that the money being recovered from fuel sales, in LKR, be immediately converted to USD and be
kept in an account for a period of one year.It is only the conversion of Rupees into Dollars that will be allowed immediately, but the
repatriation of funds will still remain for 12 months
So, the repatriation of profits are allowed, repatriation of funds will remain in Sri Lanka, as per the original condition, for 12 months
Because there will be significant amount of pressure on the foreign reserves if we try to convert bulk amounts after a nine-month period,
agreements, the Minister stated that while it was initially suggested to impose a royalty of 1% on the three existing fuel suppliers and
other future suppliers, this was later withdrawn following the imposition of a Rs
50 tax by the Ministry of Finance, prior to the implementation of the former.Explaining the matter further, Wijesekera stated that the
50 collected from suppliers will be used to recover the payments made for the Indian Line of Credit (LoC), and the funds obtained from Iran
