News
Cabinet lifts two conditions imposed on foreign oil companies
By Rathindra Kuruwita
The Cabinet of Ministers has scrapped two conditions that were initially imposed on foreign companies that were to enter the retail oil market in Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna stalwart Sunil Handunnetti says.
One of the conditions was that the money earned by selling fuel could only be taken out of the country after a year since the ship carrying fuel arrived in Sri Lanka. The money earned by selling fuel can be converted to US. dollars only after nine months of the sale, Handunnetti said.
The other was that one percent of the monthly revenue would be held by the Ministry of Power or an institution assigned by the government.
“These conditions were initially imposed because the government said neither the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) nor the Lanka IOC had maintained adequate dollar reserves to buy fuel, leading to shortages in 2022. These conditions were also imposed to ensure these companies did not take away the profits immediately,” he said.
However, the Cabinet of Ministers had proposed to scrap those two conditions on 19 May, Handunnetti said. The Cabinet had approved the proposal in the first week of June, he said.
“They are now saying that since the economy has stabilised those companies can convert rupees into dollars and take it out almost immediately,” he said.
Sri Lanka has premitted China’s Sinopec and the US’s RM Parks to enter the fuel distribution business here.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, and Urban Development to award the contract for printing and supplying vehicle number plates for the Department of Motor Traffic for a period of five (5) years to M/s South Asian Technologies based on the recommendations of the High-Level Standing Procurement Committee and the Procurement Appeal Board.
The National Lotteries board has been established subject to the Finance Act No. 11 of 1963. Having identified the requirement of amending that act which was imposed around 62 years to cater the current requirements of the lottery market, the Cabinet of Mnisters at their meeting held on 14.02.2017 granted approval to draft a new bill for the purpose.
Accordingly, the National Lotteries Board has recognized further amendments to be performed to the fundamental draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsmen.
Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the
resolution furnished by the President in his office as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to direct the Legal Draftsmen to finalize the formulation of the draft bill for the National Lotteries Board as soon as possible including the proposed new amendments as well.
The Werahara office of the Department of Motor Traffic performs issuance of temporary driving licenses in this country based on the driving licenses issued overseas, and measures have been initiated to render the service from a service window of the Department of Motor Traffic established at the Bandaranayake International Airport from 03.08.2025.
The fees charged for issuing temporary driving licenses have been published in Motor Vehicles (Driving License Levy) Regulations No. 3 of 2022 prepared under the provisions of the Motor Traffic (Authority 203) Act.
But, as the fee of Rupees 2,000/- charged for the service is not sufficient, the requirement of amending the regulations has been recognized.
The regulations for introducing the revised fees have been published in the government extraordinary gazette
notification No. 2463/04 dated 17.11.2025. Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development to
submit the regulations to the Parliament for its concurrence.
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