DHAKA: Sri Lanka slashed cooking gas prices on Sunday just one day after the cost of diesel and petrol was also cut ahead of next month’s presidential election.

The ministry of internal trade said it was reducing the price of a standard cylinder of gas used for cooking by 11.6 percent to 1,896 rupees from Sunday, the second such cut in recent months, reports The Straits Times.

The loss-making state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation announced on Saturday it was cutting diesel and petrol prices by nearly 5 percent, also the second recent reduction.

It denied the move was an election sweetener instructed by president Mahinda Rajapakse’s government, insisting the cut was connected to falling global oil prices.

BDST: 1640 HRS, DEC 07, 2014