Sri Lanka’s up to March petroleum import bill jumps to US$ 1.42 billion
S L up to March petroleum import bill jumps to US$ 1.42 billion (pics:hansafx.net)
Sri Lanka’s petroleum import bill during the first quarter of this year has gone up by 43.4% year on year to year, to incur a sum of US$ 1.42 billion.
This is compared to US$ 996.7 million the country spent during the same quarter last year.
Meanwhile during March this year, the country’s petroleum import bill has gone up by 16.4% year on year incurring a bill of US$ 408.6%.
This is compared to US$ 351 million spent during March 2011.
Central Bank says, the increase expenditure on petroleum imports during March 2012 came as a result of the high average crude oil import price.
Accordingly a barrel of crude oil in the world market has gone up to US$ 125.39 from US dollars 111.31 per barrel in March 2011.
This also has resulted in the expenditure on imports of refined petroleum products too increasing by around 18% as a result of higher prices.
