Sri Lanka raises fuel prices by 6% in line with International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to recover energy costs and to stabilise the economy. Image used for representational purposes.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Sri Lanka raised fuel prices by up to 6% on Sunday (May 31, 2026), in line with International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to recover energy costs and phase out subsidies to stabilise the economy.
Also read | Sri Lanka raises fuel prices by 25% as war bites
Petrol was raised to 434 SLR ($1.33), up from 410 SLR, while diesel increased to 407 SLR a litre from 392 SLR, the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation said.
The price hike came days after the IMF released a $695 million instalment of a $2.9 billion bailout loan, agreed in early 2023 to stabilise the cash-strapped South Asian nation.
The IMF wants Sri Lanka to ensure cost recovery for both fuel and electricity tariffs, which the government has subsidised since the start of the conflict in West Asia in February.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in a letter to the IMF, made public by the Washington-based international lender, said that fuel subsidies will be phased out by September.
Since the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on February 28, triggering a global energy crisis, Sri Lanka has raised petrol and diesel prices by about 48 percent. Electricity has increased by a third.
The Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which about 20% of global oil exports pass in peacetime, has been effectively closed by Iran.
Sri Lanka imports all its oil and also buys coal for electricity generation.
Colombo has warned that the fighting in West Asia, and any prolonged conflict, could seriously undermine its efforts to emerge from the economic meltdown of 2022.
Sri Lanka defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt in 2022 after running out of foreign exchange. Since then, Colombo has been drawing down the IMF bailout loan to stabilise the country.
Published – May 31, 2026 11:43 am IST
