News
Litro Gas Company and SLIC: Loss making company, a question of syntax
The Sri Lanka Insurance Company (SLIC) has drawn attention to the Sunday Times front page story last week referring to Government plans to merge state owned Litro Gas with LAUGFS GAS in a PPP (Public-Private Partnership).
A spokesperson for the Company states that the reference in the news item to SLIC “which is running at a loss” is incorrect. The spokesperson adds that the Company (SLIC) has made a pre-tax profit of Rs. 8.2 billion in 2019 and Rs. 7.9 billion (unpublished) in 2020, has always made profits and transferred “billions of profits” to the Treasury “year on year”.
* NEWS EDITOR’S NOTE: There seems to be a question of syntax here. The newspaper quoted from the Cabinet Paper which states, inter-alia, as follows; ” Although Litro Gas Company which is a subsidiary company of Sri Lanka Insurance Company, currently running at a loss is a debt free company.” It would appear that the reference was to Litro Gas Company that is running at a loss and not SLIC, even though Litro Gas is a subsidiary of SLIC.