Sri Lanka has raised its retail fuel prices with effect from midnight Saturday, petroleum officials said.

The 5 percent hike in retail prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene oil was the second such hike during the current year.

Sri Lanka who imports all its oil requirement is likely to spend almost 8 percent more to buy fuel this year, the finance ministry said last month.

The government spent 26.1 billion rupees (about 261 million U.S. dollars) on fuel subsidies last year, up from 14.7 billion rupees (about 147 million dollars) in 2004.

The Sri Lankan public complain of being badly hit by fuel price adjustments as each raise causes a upturn in the island's cost of living index and spiraling inflation.

Source: Xinhua