In his statement, the MP compares foreign exchange reserves of the South Asian region between 2019 and 2021, and states that reserves declined in Sri Lanka by 80%, while the other countries recorded an increase. To check the

To evaluate the minister’s claims, FactCheck.lk consulted membership data as well as historical data on lending commitments that are publicly available on the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s web

To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health and Our World in Data (OWID) statistics on COVID-19 vaccinations.

The minister in a statement on Facebook states that 1) Sri Lanka’s total exports are USD 12.3 billion in 2020 and USD 15.12 billion in 2021 and depicts in his graph that 2) total exports have been on an increasing path and have further increased by

To evaluate the president’s claim FactCheck.lk consulted the Ministry of Finance’s (MoF) Annual Report 2020 and the Fiscal Management Report 2022. Sri Lanka receives foreign loans both through the disbursements of previously agreed loans, as

The main claim is that Sri Lanka’s debt rose much faster over the five-year period from 2015-2019 than over the 10-year period prior to that. To check the figures cited by the minister, FactCheck.lk consulted data presented in the annual reports

In his address to Parliament, State Minister of Co-operative Services, Marketing Development and Consumer Protection Lasantha Alagiyawanna attempts to attribute the failure to ensure a safe composition of Propane and Butane i

The Fundamental Rights petitions filed challenging the legality of the agreements of the Yugadanavi power plant were fixed for January 19 yesterday by the Supreme Court. The petitions were re-fixed for further hearing since Supreme Court bench was

Two Appeal Court judges have recused from the case filed by the Sri Lankan Parliament against the Right to Information Commission and Journalist Chamara Sampath. Judges Ruwan

SSP Thalduwa made these claims to the media in relation to the incident where an activist was questioned by the CID for posting a video on social media of the public verbally protesting against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as he was travelling throug

The MP claims that Sri Lanka foreign debt increased from 72% to 96% in 2019 [24% point increase]. However, it is unclear whether

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), “The concept of food self-sufficiency is generally taken to mean the extent to which a country can satisfy its food needs from its own domestic pro

In his statement, the MP refers to expenditure through ministries headed by the Rajapaksa family and relatives. To check the MP’s claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the 2022 Budget speech, which provide

The minister claims (a) there are nearly 1,000 tax files registered with the Department of Inland Revenue (IRD), and (b) there are over 10 million credit cards in issue in the country, with each credit card holder performing transactions of over Rs.

The MP’s statement suggests that it is not feasible for Sri Lanka to move towards 100% organic agriculture in a short span of time.

To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the Weekly Economic Indicators of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) Annual Report.

To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted import data from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). Expenditure on fuel imports depends not just on consumption, but also largely on international prices, which tend to fluctuate. Therefore, FactCheck.lk

In his statement, the MP claims that as per the Cabinet memorandum presented by Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, the Framework Agreement between the government and the New Fortress Energy (NFE) Company resulted in assigning to NFE economic rights th

Chief Government Whip and Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said the expert committee will send the draft of the new constitution to Parliament early next year. The minister sa

MP Shantha Bandara made this statement in the context of the newly passe

The former state minister’s statement provides a breakdown of social and related expenditures by government, and as reported attributes LKR 700 billion to the costs of control and relief activities due to Covid-19. (Headline in the Daily News: Rs 7

To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted data from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Annual Reports. Data from the CB

In his statement, the MP states that (1) 70% of government revenue is spent on interest on loan repayments, and (2) Lebanon is the only country in the world to pay higher interest than Sri Lanka as a percentage of national revenue. To evaluate this c

The former MP claims that (a) 10 Covid-19 patients die every hour in Sri Lanka, (b) the ratio of Covid-19 death to cases in Sri Lanka is 1.5%, and (c) Sri Lanka reports the highest daily Covid-19 death rate in the Asian region at the time of his stat

To evaluate the minister’s claim, FactCheck.lk consulted data from the Annual report published by the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

In Sri Lanka, the phrase “sugar scam” refers to the scandal surrounding the sudden large reduction in the Special Commodity Levy (SCL) on sugar imports, which took place on 13 October 2020. The SCL on sugar was reduced by 99.5%

The minister claims that Sri Lanka has the lowest petrol and diesel prices in the South Asian region—except for Pakistan, which has a lower diesel price.

To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted World Bank national accounts data on GDP growth. FactCheck.lk evaluat

In his statement, the state minister claimed that the population percentage dependent on agriculture is over 30%, while the contribution to GDP is less than 10%. His figures indicate that the population percentage dependent on agricultur

(1) On the numbers: Tax revenues increased from Rs. 1,050 billion in 2014 to Rs. 1,700 billion under the yahapaalanaya gov