Fabricated Sri Lankan news graphic lists incorrect fuel prices
- Published on May 8, 2026 at 10:57
- 2 min read
- By Harshana SILVA, AFP Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka raised fuel prices in May 2026 as the Middle East war continued to disrupt global energy supplies, but a purported news graphic showing the spike on social media is fabricated. The figures in the table are higher than the actual increase, and a general manager at the parent company of a local news outlet that has previously published similar graphics told AFP the circulating visual is inauthentic.
The graphic shared May 1 on Facebook contains a table appearing to show how much petrol, diesel and kerosene prices increased the day before.
"Gifts from Anura for those who are celebrating Labour Day," says the post's Sinhala-language caption, referring to Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The same graphic spread in similar Facebook posts as local media reported fuel price revisions were expected in the coming days (archived here and here).
Dissanayake also told a May Day rally in Colombo that fuel prices would be revised and pledged relief measures (archived here and here).
The island nation has consistently raised fuel prices -- even before global energy supplies were disrupted following the joint US-Israeli air strikes against Iran in late February.
But there were no official increases on April 30, as claimed online.
Sri Lanka did raise fuel prices by nearly four percent days later, coming into effect on May 4 and further driving inflation (archived here and here).
Since March, the country has raised fuel prices by more than 35 percent, while gas and electricity rates have also increased by a similar amount.
Inaccurate figures
A reverse image search on Google found a similar image posted March 21 on Facebook by local outlet Hiru News (archived link).
"Fuel prices to rise again from midnight today (21)," says the graphic's caption.
The new fuel prices listed on the far right of the graphic match the current rates in the falsely shared version. AFP reported on Sri Lanka's fuel price hike at the time (archived link).
Hiru News posted a similar graphic on May 2 covering revisions due to take effect the following day (archived link).
The current petrol price is the same in both visuals, but the new rates are lower in the official graphic.
Prashanthan Subramaniam, a general manager at Asia Broadcasting Corporation, the parent company of Hiru News, told AFP via email on May 8 that the graphics circulating on social media are "entirely fake news and did not originate from our organisation".
"The image is fabricated and was never published on our platforms," he added.
The genuine news graphics are based on data from the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. The government also shared the new prices on Facebook (archived link).
The revised fuel prices are published on the corporation's website, which also lists historical rates (archived here and here). The figures in the fabricated graphic do not correspond to the data.
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about purported fuel price changes.
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