President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday (13) that fuel price increases are part of a deliberate Government strategy to curb consumption, warning that the current subsidy structure is unsustainable.

Speaking at the Nuwara Eliya District Special Coordinating Committee meeting, the President said the cost of a litre of diesel has risen to Rs. 720 on the global market. While the Government is currently selling diesel at Rs. 392 per litre, it is absorbing a subsidy of approximately Rs. 100 per litre to do so, a burden he said the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) cannot bear indefinitely.

"The losses being incurred by the CPC as a result of this arrangement are significant, and such a system cannot be sustained in the long term," he cautioned.