Video: JVP demands answers on data distortion

30 January 2014 12:35 pm

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) today vowed to take up the issue of the government massaging economic data to lure investment in particular, and to hoodwink the public in general in Parliament.

JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a news conference that he had raised the issue on December 20, but the government had failed to give a convincing answer to his allegations. Mr. Dissanayake said that now it was all the more important to calculate the economic growth in realistic terms since it was always used to assess other economic indicators such as the Gross Domestic Product, debt ratio, per capita income etc.

“If economic growth data is distorted, other indicators will also be misinterpreted. Therefore, we will not let go of this case easily. We will raise it again. We are planning to move an adjournment motion in Parliament. The government has done this to lure investment in the stock exchange.

These are bogus economic indicators. People know it well. Despite the economic growth as claimed by the government, living standards of people have not improved. That is the reality. They have to spend more and more for their daily requirements,” he said.