In his statement, the MP states that (1) public sector debt as a percentage of GDP was 109.7% in 2020, (2) this is the highest public debt in Sri Lanka’s history, and (3) if sovereign bonds had not been undervalued public debt would exceed 113% of

To check the claim on the ‘collapse’ of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry following the Easter attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic, FactCheck.lk compared the change in performance of tourism earnings after April 2019 and after March 2020 (when COVI

To evaluate this claim, FactCheck.lk looked exclusively at Our World in Data (OWID) statistics on COVID-19 to facilitate cross country comparison (as of 10th July). The minister does not state his metrics of success. FactCheck.lk evaluated the claim

In his statement, Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila claims that the accumulated losses of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CP

In his statement, State Minister Lohan Ratwatte claims that (a) the credit line under which the vehicles were to be imported does not

To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted data from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Daily Operations. Money printing is more

To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the latest press releases by the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health and Our World in Data statistics on COVID-19 vaccinations. To evaluate the first claim, FactCheck.lk considered the MP to be refe

In his statement, the MP states that (1) Sri Lanka imported 574,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser in 2020, and (2) Sri Lanka, using 284kg per hectare, has the highest chemical fertiliser consumption in South Asia. To check the f

To check this claim, FactCheck.lk referred to the latest available data, from 2019, from the Central Bank Annual Report (CBSL) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) Annual Report. Public sector external debt

In his statement, the MP states that (a) industries in total contribute to 26.4% of GDP, (b) industrial exports contribute 10% to GDP and (c) 10% of export against the 26.4% production is a very low share of total industrial production to export. To

To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted import data from the Export Development Board Trade Statistics. FactCheck.lk l

To evaluate this claim, FactCheck consulted the Annual Reports of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka of 2019 and 2020, and the Annual Report of the Ministry of Finance 2019.

To check this claim, FactCheck consulted data from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the Department of Census and Statistic

To check this claim, FactCheck consulted the latest available Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) from the Department of Census and Statistics. The HIES is the main source of data in Sri Lanka on estimates of income share by h

FactCheck considered the word “strongest” as used by the minister to signify either the largest fund, or the fund with the highest rate of return. To check this claim, FactCheck looked at official sources from multiple countries in Asia to assess

To check this claim, FactCheck consulted Ministry of Finance (MoF) annual reports and Lanka Sathosa (LS) annual reports. Notably, LS and the MoF report has contradicting figures prior to 2016. LS also does not have data available after 2017 and provi

To check this claim, FactCheck consulted the Annual Imports Statistics published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka for 2019 and 2020 under the External Sector Statistics and Monthly Economic Indicators which give provisional import data.

Claim 1: Concerns regarding repayment or credit risk can be assessed by the rate of interest demanded by borrowers and willingness to lend. The majority of Sri Lanka’s government non-ISB debt consists of domestic rupee debt (53.5% of total debt). O

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa claims that there has been an increase in the exports of export agricultural crops (EACs) during 2020 when compared to 2019. Export Agricultural Crops (EAC) refers to a set of specific crops that are under the purview

In his statement, the Director General (DG) of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardana states that if COVID-19 reaches community spread, then the positive rate will spike up as an indication. He concludes by this criteria that Sri Lanka does not have c

To check this claim, FactCheck consulted data from Sri Lanka’s Export Development Board. The minister claims,

To check this claim, FactCheck consulted data from the Colombo Stock Exchange Quarterly Report and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka Annual Report. LKR 104 billion is recorded as the total sales value (outflow) of foreign owned stoc

To evaluate the state minister’s claim FactCheck consulted the 2014 and 2019 Annual Reports of the Central Bank and the Cen

Money printing is more formally known as deficit financing. It refers to when the Central Bank finances the government’s budget deficit by creating new money to directly purchase government securities issued by the treasury. The Central Bank’s pu

To check this claim, of overwhelming global support for permitting burial of Covid-19 victims, FactCheck consulted the latest available guidelines provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of the United Nations, Center for Disease Co

In his statement, former MP Ruwan Wijewardene claimed that the allocation for the Ministry of Health in 2021 was decreased by LKR 20 billion during a health crisis, compared to 2019. To check this claim, FactCheck consulted the budget estimates and p

To evaluate MP Premadasa’s claim, FactCheckreferred to data available in the weekly economic indicators of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

To assess this claim, FactCheck consulted the Ministry of Finance Annual Report for 2019, the latest full year for which actual data

In the second reading of the 2020 Appropriation Bill, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed that the budget deficit for 2019 increased to 9.6% of GDP. To evaluate this claim, FactCheck consulted annual reports from the Ministry of Finance (MoF).