Last Updated : 2023-09-21 20:02:00
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Thu, 21 Sep 2023 Today's Paper
21 Sep 2023 - 0 - 19
In a broader discussion on the burden of prisons on the Treasury, the state minister advocated for the revamping of the prison system. In support of his stance, the state minister claimed that: (1) (a) the
14 Sep 2023 - 6 - 810
To evaluate the MP’s claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the 1981 and 2012 censuses from the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS). The census does not define the “City of Colombo.” The 2012 cen
07 Sep 2023 - 0 - 180
To check the MP’s claim, FactCheck.lk consulted Health at a Glance: Asia/Pacific by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and World Health Organisation (WHO) 2022 report and the Global Health Security (GHS) Index developed by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The Health at a Glance (H
17 Aug 2023 - 0 - 356
The MP made three claims regarding low female labour force participation in Sri Lanka: (1) official statistics on contribution to the labour force underestimate women’s contribution to work by not taking account of unpaid work; (2) 60% of unpaid, caregiving work is done by women, and (3) women already work more hours in a day (14 hours) than men (9 hours). To evaluate these cl
10 Aug 2023 - 0 - 333
The MP in his statement claims that (1) CBSL maintains both the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) of private and semi-government sector workers and a separate provident fund for its employees; and (2) the CBSL Provident Fund (CBSLP
03 Aug 2023 - 1 - 427
In his speech, MP Hakeem makes two overall claims: (1) Sri Lanka will be the first Asian country subject to an IMF review of governance diagnostics, and (2) Sri Lanka was the first country in the
27 Jul 2023 - 0 - 339
In his statement, the MP makes two claims; 1) that the agreement signed with the IMF does not impose a condition on the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to restructure domestic debt, 2) that it is instead the foreign bondholders that have imposed a condition saying that domestic debt should also be restructured similar to foreign debt.
20 Jul 2023 - 1 - 460
The state minister made this statement in the larger context of the government considering proposals to lift the existing restrictions on vehicle imports to boost government tax revenue. To check the state minister’s claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the Ministry of Finance Annual Report (MoFAR) 2022 and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Annual Report (CBSLAR) 2022. MoFAR rep
14 Jul 2023 - 1 - 503
The minister’s overall claim is that earnings from tourism could rescue the country from its current economic difficulties – and even be a substitute for the support of the IMF. To expound his claim,
07 Jul 2023 - 1 - 571
To evaluate this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) and Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) published by the Department of Census and Statistics. Consumer Price Indexes measure the overall price level of a selected basket of consumption (based on how people tend to allocate their spending). The year-on-year (YoY) inflation statistic reports the percentage ch
01 Jul 2023 - 0 - 410
In his speech, MP Hashim claims that the number of people living in poverty has increased significantly since 2019. To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the World Bank Poverty and Inequity Platform, the World Bank Poverty
22 Jun 2023 - 0 - 278
The MP makes two overall claims about the recent tariff hike in February 2023. First, the electricity bills of the ‘poor’ have increased by a significantly higher percentage compared to the ‘rich’. Second, the ‘rich’ have received a concession at the expense of the ‘poor’. To support these claims, the MP provides calculations: an 1138% increase in the electricity bill for individuals categorised by the MP as ‘poor’ (consuming 30 KwH per month) an
15 Jun 2023 - 0 - 262
The state minister’s overall claim is that Sri Lanka is making steady progress towards achieving fiscal stability. To support this claim, the state minister points out that Sri Lanka has achieved a primary balance of positive LKR 48 billion, against the IMF programme projection of negative LKR 56 billion for the first quarter of 2023. The primary balance is the difference between revenue and expenditure (excluding interest payments). To check his
08 Jun 2023 - 0 - 240
In his statement, the minister claims that the government has not adhered to the limits prescribed by the Fiscal Management (Responsibility) Act (FMRA). To substantiate this claim, the minister states li
25 May 2023 - 1 - 870
The MP in his statement makes two claims: (1) the majority of domestic bonds is in treasury bonds, which amounts to approximately LKR 9 trillion and (2) of the total treasury bonds, 45% is in banks and 43% was borrowed from the EPF and ETF. To evaluate these claims, FactCheck.lk consulted the Central Bank (CBSL) Annual Report 2022 for data on domestic debt as of 31 December 202
18 May 2023 - 0 - 826
The information presented by the president is most easily interpreted as Sri Lanka pursuing a USD 17 billion reduction on the total stock of debt. However, it does not preclude another interpretation: a reduction in the flow of debt
11 May 2023 - 0 - 533
The minister in his tweet claims a rise in worker remittances by Sri Lankan migrant workers in 2023 compared to 2022. To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted data on the flow of foreign remittances published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). In public finance
04 May 2023 - 6 - 782
In his statement, the MP claims that the government’s economic strategy in line with IMF guidance is not effective because total export income has decreased by 10% this year compared to last year. The MP
27 Apr 2023 - 0 - 820
Commenting on the question of inflationary pressure created in Sri Lanka due to increased money printing, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) claims that the money printing has reduced in 2022 compared to 2021. The gov
20 Apr 2023 - 1 - 419
In his statement, the minister makes two claims. (1) The current IMF programme required Sri Lanka to complete programme actions before receiving IMF funding, while in the previous programmes the actions were completed after receiving the funding, and (2) Sri Lanka was exceptionally fast in formalising an IMF agreement [after the staff level agreement], having done so within 7 mo
06 Apr 2023 - 0 - 502
This fact check is based on the minister’s recent tweet on the fuel price formula cost breakdown for a litre of petrol, diesel, and kerosene. The breakdown of the cost is meant to justify the price charged by the CPC for the following month. In his tweet, the minister claims the profit to the CPC is low with an unaccountable version of the fuel price formula. To chec
30 Mar 2023 - 0 - 812
To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted documentation published by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), including correspondence between the Ceylon electricity Board (C
16 Mar 2023 - 0 - 495
The state minister claims that an extremely small portion of the labour force are eligible to be subject to Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) income tax. Since he made this claim in parliament, the statement has been cited and reported widely by high level decision makers and the media.
09 Mar 2023 - 1 - 683
The president claims that there were 1.5 million income tax files by the end of 2019 and that the income tax files dropped to 400,000 by the end of 2021. The president makes these claims in the context of attributing the reduction in tax files from 2019 to 2021 to the tax revisions made in 2020. To evaluate
02 Mar 2023 - 0 - 382
In his statement, the MP makes two related claims: (i) Economic a
23 Feb 2023 - 0 - 215
The state minister claims that fuel, medicine, and fertiliser are being imported without a shortage. To chec
17 Feb 2023 - 0 - 512
The president while delivering the government’s policy statement, claims that the share of direct taxes collected in Sri Lanka is lower compared to many Asian countries and suggests that increasing the share of direct taxes would reduce the tax burden (indirect taxes) on the “general public” (interpreted here as “wider lower-income population”). To check
11 Feb 2023 - 0 - 286
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror, the MP cites the reduction in the monthly fuel bill as an example of why Sri Lanka’s current economic “normalcy” is on an “uneasy equilibrium”. In his example, he says that the country is saving around USD 350 million a month by cutting down the fuel bill from around USD 550 million to USD 200 m
02 Feb 2023 - 0 - 249
The state minister made this statement in the context of explaining the details of an affidavit filed at the Supreme Court on January 18 by the Secretary to the Treasury. The affidavit is reported to state that the Treasury is finding it challenging to secure funds for an election as it is operating under the prevailing economic crisis. The statements of the state minister provide numbers ind
26 Jan 2023 - 1 - 326
FactCheck.lk interprets the minister as claiming that the shortfall between the Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) revenue and cost will amount to approximately LKR 489 billion for 2023, despite the increase in electricity tariffs in August 2022. To evalu
21 Sep 2023