Rising COL and the GoSL

The COL is through the roof. You don't need some blogger to tell you that - you already know cause you spend Rs. 500 on lunch now. I like to party and that costs a fortune and it just seems like a waste. I caught a little bit of a talk show last night, featuring Bandula Gunawardena and Johnston Fernando. I joined the conversation while some guy was phoning in a question, which went a little something like this:

The fuel prices in the UK are 1.20 while the Pound is about Rs. 230 and the petrol in Sri Lanka is 157. This is what you say. But the per capita income in the UK is about 60,000 pounds while the per capita income in Sri lanka is only about 1,300 Pounds or something... (this is because Bandula has previously stated that the cost of petrol in the UK is higher than ours... simply based on the exchange rate)

The figures may not be completely accurate, but you kinda get the picture of what this guys is trying to say right? He also asked where the hell the rice from Burma is at...
The replies were hilarious. First the rice issue:

Rice is available at the warehouse on Kirimandala mawatha at Rs. 56 per Kg - wholesale. [Johnston interrupts and asks him how much the people can buy it for] It's Rs. 56 per Kg wholesale, we've brought it down to that. [J: yeah but, how much can the people buy it for? How much at the kade?] Well, max Rs. 60. People can buy Nadu for Rs. 60... Maximum. All the media people have spun this web of lies to antagonize the people...
[Moderator: What about the petrol issue?] Well that gentleman's rationale is all wrong. That was back in the 60's that people compared the per capita income of each country. Today we have an adjusted system where the purchasing power of each country's individuals are measured. Now, since we compare ourselves to Singapore all the time, let me take Singapore as an example (note: how he's dodged the GBP thing cause even with this new calculation he's gonna be screwed). In Singapore the per capita income is {some numbers} and in Sri Lanka {some more numbers}. That means Singapore is about 22 times higher than ours. Now if we calculate it using the adjustments, then Singapore is only 11 times higher than us. So you see, that gentleman's argumant is not valid.

Economics isn't my forte and I understand very little of it, as you can see. But I can understand that petrol at 157 in Sri Lanka is way more expensive than petrol at GBP 1.2o or whatever in the UK. I am sure even Peter Griffin can understand that! But who are these fellows trying to fool? Bandula screwed all his voters over by crossing over and now this?

There are a few fuel price reports here. I'm not sure about the per capita and income ranges and purchasing power etc... Also maybe someone with a little knowledge on economics can shed some light on how the GoSL is trying screw us with their big words and eat Nadu shit. Perhaps Komiya can tell us something.... That's if he's alive and still reading this.