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Mon, 06 May 2024 Today's Paper
13 Aug 2020 - 0 - 769
Former Minister of Health Rajitha Senaratne transmits incorrect information on malaria incidence. To evaluate forme
30 Jul 2020 - 0 - 926
To evaluate Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) W.D. Lakshman’s claim, FactCheck consulted the set of principles developed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)—an international organisation that serves and supports central banks in their pursuit of monetary and financial stability—to assess the risk taken on by global and domestic banks. Sri Lankan domestic ban
23 Jul 2020 - 1 - 1068
In the above statement, former MP Udaya Gammanpila claimed the UPFA government, which came in to power in 2005, reduced the debt burden of the country from 103% of GDP to 72% at the end of thei
16 Jul 2020 - 3 - 785
On 24 June 2020, Divaina reported Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s above claim that his government succeeded in achieving effectively universal access to electricity (99.9% access). To evaluate this claim, FactCheck consulted data from the annual reports of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2019. In 2004—prior to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) forming government—74.9% of the population had access to electricity. By 2014—the final
09 Jul 2020 - 2 - 1059
FactCheck evaluated the former MP’s statement using data obtained from the Department of External Resources on foreign loan commitments to Sri Lanka. The analysis was limited—based on the availa
02 Jul 2020 - 2 - 1406
FactCheck evaluated the president’s claim in terms of real GDP growth in the post-war period, using data from the 2019 National Accounts Estimates of the Department of Census and Statistics and the Annual Report of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka 2019. From 2010 to 2014, the real GDP growth rate reported averaged 6.78%, which is a little below the 7-8% claimed. This results from the GDP growth being higher than 7% for 3 years in 2010-12, and unde
25 Jun 2020 - 1 - 1090
To evaluate this claim, FactCheck consulted the Monetary Law Act, Finance Companies Act and Sri Lanka Deposit Insurance Scheme Regulations. The legislative framework for deposit insurance in Sri Lanka is established by Sections 32A t
11 Jun 2020 - 5 - 1412
This fact check interprets the former MP’s statement as referring to the commitment of expendable financing—which is not limit
04 Jun 2020 - 2 - 1472
In evaluating this statement, FactCheck understood the minister as claiming that there was no “community transmission” of Covid-19, in the period 01-20 May 2020. According t
21 May 2020 - 0 - 1263
Former Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne made the overall claim that the number of people reported as having Covid-19 in Sri Lanka is a significant underestimate due to three reasons. This FactCheck evaluates the former minister’s overall claim by evaluating the specific reasons and facts provided in support of the overall claim.
14 May 2020 - 1 - 1942
Former MP Udaya Gammanpila made this statement as part of a series of tweets with reference to the ability to prosecute former President Maithripala Sirisena for any alleged crime in relation to the Easter Sunday attacks.
07 May 2020 - 4 - 1096
In his statement former Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa claimed that—based on the reduction in global fuel prices—domestic
30 Apr 2020 - 4 - 777
FactCheck evaluated the MP’s claim using data from the Annual Report 2018 and the Weekly Economic Indicators published by the CBSL. At the time the MP made the statement, data for 2019 was only available for the first nine months (see Exhibit 1).
03 Apr 2020 - 1 - 2669
In comparing Sri Lanka’s trajectory with that of Italy, the GMOA makes reference to the first ‘local’ case detected. This is a standard distinction made in counting cases, where those that contracted the virus outside the country and brough
19 Mar 2020 - 2 - 1233
To check this claim, we evaluated the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution 30/1 and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
12 Mar 2020 - 0 - 1033
MP Kiriella argues that the estimated loss of LKR 10 billion arising from irregular bond transactions post-January 2015 should not be considered a loss. His argument is based on over LKR 12 billion of counter-party assets being frozen in response to investigations. He contrasts this with the losses estimated for the 2002-2014 period where there is no asset freeze to support the recovery of losses.
05 Mar 2020 - 0 - 2180
To assess this claim FactCheck consulted Report 1 (of the 5 reports) from the forensic audit at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. It investigates the issuance of treasury bonds from January 2002 to 28 February 201
27 Feb 2020 - 6 - 2332
President misinformed on disabilityTo evaluate the president’s statement on Twitter made after the opening of the Ayati Centre, FactCheck consulted the most recent Population and Housing Census (PHC) compiled in 2011 by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCAS). The PHC uses a commonly understood definition of disability as mental or physical impairments that cause daily difficulty in at least one of six areas. The PHC finds the prevalence t
06 Feb 2020 - 1 - 2023
The MP in his statement is attempting to quantify the net loss, through the state-owned airlines, which then translates into additional national debt.
30 Jan 2020 - 5 - 2520
MP Udaya Gammanpila claims that treating the national anthem as existing in any language other than Sinhala is a violation of the constitution because Article 7 of the constitution gives the national anthem as “Sri Lanka Maatha” in Sinhala. To check this claim, FactCheck consulted the constitution. The officially published versions of the constitution contain the name and words of the national anthem in two languages—Sinhala and Tamil. In Sinhala
24 Jan 2020 - 1 - 985
MP Sajith Premadasa makes three claims: (1) representation of women in the current parliament is 5.8%; (2) the number of women in parliament has been low over time; and (3) the 2015- 2019 government increased representation of women in local authorities to the level of 25%.
16 Jan 2020 - 1 - 1102
Minister Keheliya Rambukwella’s figures present a fourfold increase in GDP during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency. The minister is correct in the figures he cites. However, this fact check will go on to explain why stating GDP in USD instead of LKR could be misleading. FactCheck evaluated the claim using data from the Special Statistical Appendix of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Annual Report 2018 and National Accounts Estimates of the Depa
09 Jan 2020 - 0 - 787
To check this claim, FactCheck consulted the Urban Transport System Development Project for Colombo Metropolitan Region and Suburbs (CoMTrans) report published in 2014 which is publicly available on the Ministry of Transport website. The survey data used in this report is limited to the Western Province. CoMTrans reports the share of trips (not distance) that each mode of transport accounts for in the Western province. If the MP is referring to
19 Dec 2019 - 0 - 599
FactCheck assessed the MP’s claim using the latest data from the Grave Crimes Abstract (GCA) from the Sri Lanka Police and the Prison Statistics of Sri Lanka report 2019. Exhibit 1 shows that the numbers provided by the MP are mostly correct, barring some small deviations. The numbers compared are misleading, however, because he was claiming an improvement during the 2015-2018 period; but using two of the three reference points from 2012, instea
12 Dec 2019 - 0 - 1140
To check this claim, first we consulted the University Grants Commission (UGC) 2018 statistics on undergraduate enrolment in universities and higher educational institutions. This provides statistics only for institutions established under the Universities Act. No. 16 of 1978. There are a number of institutions, both government and private, that don’t fall within this Act.
07 Dec 2019 - 0 - 254
On 5th December 2019, FactCheck published, in the Daily Mirror, a statement reported as being made by State Minister Nimal Lanza in the Divaina newspaper on 6 September 2019. FactCheck classified Minister Lanza’s statement as FALSE. It has been brought to our attention now, that the Minister’s statement was reported incorrectly in the press. In his statement, original
28 Nov 2019 - 5 - 3278
In the above statement, MP Gammanpila makes two claims: that (i) the Muslim (Sri Lankan Moor) population will exceed 12% of the total population in the next 10 years (i.e. by 2029); and (ii) the Sinhala population is declining and is under threat of extinction by the rapid growth of the Muslim population. The MP’s claim is based on the growth of the
14 Nov 2019 - 3 - 3054
The claim cited from last week has been often repeated by MP Wimal Weerawansa, including in parliament on July 31st, where he implies that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of the United States has proposed an economic corridor in Sri Lanka from Colombo to Trincomalee.
07 Nov 2019 - 1 - 2388
To assess this claim, we used data from the Grave Crimes Abstract (GCA) from the Sri Lanka Police. Since the MP specified “girls”, we considered reported cases of rape of women under 16, which is classified as statutory rape. GCA data records the number of statutory rape cases reported from 2015 to 2018 in a range from 1,438 to 1,686 per annum. The average reported cases of statutory rape during this period was 1,556. The MP’s claim of 1,600 ali
31 Oct 2019 - 0 - 1938
In his statement, SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa claims that the Mahinda Rajapaksa government released 90% of military occupied land, after the end of the war. To verify this claim, we consulted data published by the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms (SCRM), as well as consulting the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to confirm the numbers provided.
9 hours ago