Colombo: Crisis-hit Sri Lanka on Tuesday raised the petrol price by 24.3 per cent and diesel by 38.4 per cent, a record hike in fuel prices amidst the country’s worst economic crisis due to the shortage of foreign exchange reserves. With the second fuel price hike since April 19, now the most-used Octane 92 petrol would cost 420 rupees (USD 1.17) and diesel 400 rupees (USD 1.11) a litre, an all-time high.The decision to raise the Octane 92 petrol price by 24.3 per cent or 82 rupees and diesel by 38.4 per cent or 111 rupees per litre was taken by the state fuel entity, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). “Fuel Price will be revised from 3 am today. Fuel pricing formula that was approved by the Cabinet was applied to revise the prices,” Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said on Twitter. “Price revision includes all costs incurred in importing, unloading, distribution to the stations and taxes. “The Cabinet also approved the revision of transportation and other service charges accordingly. The formula will be applied every fortnight or monthly,” he said.The hike came as the public continues to suffer in long queues at fuel stations hit by shortages. Lanka IOC, the Sri Lankan subsidiary of India’s oil major Indian Oil Corporation, has also raised the retail prices of fuel. “We have raised our prices to match the CPC,” Manoj Gupta, the CEO of LIOC, told PTI.Meanwhile, the auto-rickshaw operators said they would raise the tariff to be 90 rupees per first kilometre and 80 rupees for the second onwards. As a measure to mitigate the costs, the government announced that the heads of institutions would be given the discretion over which employees would be essential to report physically. The rest be allowed to work from home. Lanka IOC has been in operation in Sri Lanka since 2002. Sri Lanka has been mulling different options to facilitate measures to prevent fuel pumps from going dry, as the country faces a severe foreign exchange crisis to pay for its imports. The island nation is grappling with an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948. It is struggling with a shortage of almost all essentials, due to the lack of dollars to pay for the imports.A crippling shortage of foreign reserves has led to long queues for fuel, cooking gas and other essentials while power cuts and soaring food prices heaped misery on the people. The economic crisis has also triggered a political crisis in Sri Lanka and a demand for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The crisis has already forced prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder brother of the president, to resign on May 9. An inflation rate spiralling towards 40 per cent, shortages of food, fuel and medicines and rolling power blackouts have led to nationwide protests and a plunging currency, with the government short of the foreign currency reserves it needed to pay for imports.—PTI

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka on Tuesday raised the petrol price by 24.3 per cent and diesel by 38.4 per cent, a record hike in fuel prices amidst the country’s worst economic crisis due to the shortage of foreign exchange reserves.

Sri Lanka hikes fuel prices; petrol at all-time high of Rs 420

South Asia

Peshawar: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan announced that his party's long protest march to Islamabad will begin on May 25 demanding the dissolution of the National Assembly and a date for the next general election and invited people to join in large numbers. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday after his party's core committee meeting in Peshawar, Imran Khan said that he will meet the people on the Srinagar highway on May 25 and asked them to join him at 3 pm."Today we held our core committee meeting and made important decisions, the biggest question was when to begin the long march, and we have decided. On the 25th of May, I will meet you in Islamabad on the Srinagar Highway. You have to reach there at 3 pm," The Dawn quoted Khan as saying.Before announcing the date for the march, the PTI chairman explained his allegations of conspiracy as well as the purpose of his march. "I want people from all walks of life to come because this is Jihad and not politics. I invite all the women because I've seen your anger. I had never seen that before. I have decided and told all my team that we have to be ready to sacrifice our lives," he said, The Dawn reported.Speaking of the purpose of the march, Imran Khan, who was ousted as the Prime Minister of Pakistan following a no-confidence vote in April, noted that it would convert into a sit-in and continue until his demands are accepted. "We will never under any situation accept them. No matter how long we have to remain in Islamabad we will remain there," he said adding, "The march would have two primary demands: dissolution of assemblies and a date for elections."Khan demanded a free and fair election in the country and said that he would accept it if the nation would bring the current government back into power but no country from outside will be allowed to impose them on us. Referring to the present PM Shehbaz government, Imran said, "I want to give a little background of how we reached here. There was a foreign conspiracy against Pakistan from the US. In this regime change, they used locals -- the most corrupt people, who were ready to become part of any conspiracy to save their corruption," The Dawn reported."This conspiracy was hatched eight months ago and I was alerted about it in June, and after August, I fully understood what was happening. We did our best that somehow this conspiracy could be voided but unfortunately, we couldn't stop it." The former PM said that the government will try various ways to stop the march, asking his supporters to prepare beforehand for factors such as communication, transport, and fuel." He also asked the military to stick to its stated stance of being neutral. "I also say to my army that you said you are neutral so now remain neutral," he said, adding, however, I want to invite everyone to the march, including the families of civil servants, army personnel, and ex-servicemen," The Dawn reported. Khan emphasised that the party had always remained peaceful in its protests, and the same will be true for the upcoming march and warned that the party would take legal action against any wrong action taken against the peaceful protest march.—ANI

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan announced that his party's long protest march to Islamabad will begin on May 25 demanding the dissolution of the National Assembly and a date for the next general election and invited people to join in large numbers.

Imran Khan's PTI to begin protest march to Islamabad on May 25

Islamabad: The cash-strapped Pakistan government is examining the possibility of conserving fuel by reducing the number of working days, a move by which it is hoping to save an estimated $2.7 billion in foreign exchange, a media report said today. The estimates are based on three different scenarios in terms of working days and fuel conservation prepared by the State Bank of Pakistan for foreign exchange savings of $1.5 billion to $2.7 billion, the Dawn newspaper reported.Pakistan's total oil imports for the first 10 months (July-April) of the current fiscal year (FY22) has surged beyond $17 billion, displaying a massive 96 per cent growth compared to the same period in the last fiscal year, the report said. This includes imports of petroleum products worth $8.5 billion and petroleum crude worth $4.2 billion, showing a 121 per cent and 75 per cent jump, respectively, it said.A senior government official said the relevant authorities, power and petroleum divisions have been advised to come up with their estimates, including electricity conservation to take up the matter in a holistic manner with cost benefit analysis of various sectors before reaching a conclusion. He said the central bank's estimates mostly covered petroleum products consumption in normal working days a week, including retail business and government offices and educational institutions, which in any case would be on summer holidays. It, however, did not take into account LNG imports, which mostly go into the power sector. During the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, LNG imports amounted to $3.7 billion, showing an increase of 83 per cent, though import quantities were on the lower side.These estimates suggest that additional petroleum related consumption for one more working day a week would cost the nation about $642 million in terms of commuting, which does not include freight and transportation. Conversely, reduced consumption with one less working day a week provides an annual savings of about $2.1 billion. All saving numbers are taken for net reduction in oil import but subsidy on petroleum products could also come down by PKR 3.5 billion per day. In the first case, based on four working days and three holidays in which retail is open like a weekend, the average petroleum saving is estimated at $122 million a month or $1.5 billion a year.It may be noted that 90 per cent of oil consumption is assumed for working days and the remaining 10 per cent for holiday in a month. In the second scenario, based on four working days, two holidays and one day of lockdown (retail to remain closed for one day), the savings in the form of reduced oil imports is estimated at $175 million a month or $2.1 billion a year. In the third scenario, based on four working days, one holiday and two days of lockdown (commercial activities to remain off for two days), the petroleum linked saving in import bill could be around $230 million or about $2.7 billion, it said. This case, however, is considered too harsh as it could negatively affect public confidence. Officials said the Power Division had advised the new government soon after it came to office to go for reduced working days and limit commercial activities to daylight and launch a national energy conservation drive across the energy consumption sectors with electricity saving of more than 5000MW. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chose to increase working days from five to six days a week that had an additional burden in the form of higher electricity and petroleum consumption, the report added.—PTI

The cash-strapped Pakistan government is examining the possibility of conserving fuel by reducing the number of working days, a move by which it is hoping to save an estimated $2.7 billion in foreign exchange, a media report said today.

Pak govt considers reducing working days to conserve fuel

The cash-strapped Pakistan government is examining the possibility of conserving fuel by reducing the number of working days, a move by which it is hoping to save an estimated $2.7 billion in foreign exchange, a media report said today.



Peshawar: PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday announced that his party’s long march towards Islamabad for the country’s “battle for real freedom” will begin on May 25, media reported. “Today we held our core committee meeting and made (important) decisions,” Imran Khan, flanked by the who’s who of PTI leadership, said at a press conference in Peshawar. “The biggest (question) was when to begin the long march, and we have decided.“I want to give a little background of how we reached here. There was a foreign conspiracy against Pakistan from the US. In this regime change, they used locals the most corrupt people, who were ready to become part of any conspiracy to save their corruption. “This conspiracy was hatched eight months ago and I was alerted about it in June, and after August, I fully understood what was happening. We did our best that somehow this conspiracy could be voided but unfortunately we couldn’t stop it,” he said.The PTI Chairman explained in detail his allegations of conspiracy as well as the purpose of his march before announcing the date, Dawn reported. “I want people from all (walks of life) to come because this is Jihad, and not politics. I’ve decided and told all my team that we have to be ready to sacrifice our lives.” Imran Khan indicated that the march would convert into a sit-in and continue until his demands are accepted. “We will never under any situation accept them. No matter how long we have to remain in Islamabad, we will remain there.”—IANS

PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday announced that his party’s long march towards Islamabad for the country’s “battle for real freedom” will begin on May 25, media reported.

Imran Khan Says Long March To Islamabad From May 25

Dhaka: Amid rising cases of monkeypox across the world, Bangladesh has declared a health alert to curb the latest outbreak of the disease. However, no cases have been reported in the country so far, Xinhua News Agency on Sunday reported citing a health official. "No monkeypox case has been reported in Bangladesh yet, but we've made the declaration in order to check any eventuality," the official from the health ministry said.According to the official, the initial measures will involve monkeypox screening of all incoming passengers from countries where cases have been detected. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 80 cases of monkeypox in 11 countries and said they are working to better understand the extent and cause of the outbreak. In a statement issued on Friday, the WHO said the virus is endemic in some animal populations in a number of countries, leading to occasional outbreaks among local people and travelers. "WHO and partners are working to better understand the extent and cause of an outbreak of monkeypox. The virus is endemic in some animal populations in a number of countries, leading to occasional outbreaks among local people and travelers. The recent outbreaks reported across 11 countries so far are atypical, as they are occurring in non-endemic countries," the WHO said in a statement.Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms very similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe. According to WHO, Monkeypox typically presents clinically with fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes and may lead to a range of medical complications. Monkeypox is usually a self-limited disease with symptoms lasting from 2 to 4 weeks.—ANI

Amid rising cases of monkeypox across the world, Bangladesh has declared a health alert to curb the latest outbreak of the disease.