MP Bandara correct on tax amnesty being not an amnesty for money laundering

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

Former State Minister Cabraal misrepresents Covid-19 expenditure

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

MP Amaraweera oversells cost of salaries and pensions

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

MP Wickramaratne generates interest on Sri Lanka’s record cost of interest

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 claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Annual Reports and the World Bank World Development Indic

UNP Deputy Leader Wijewardena mostly wrong on Covid-19 death analysis

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 statement (i.e., 11 August).

Minister Rambukwella drinks in the truth of domestic milk production

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

Opposition Leader Premadasa estimates bitter decline in sugar tax revenue

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%

Minister Pathirana correct only on low diesel prices in Sri Lanka

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.

State Minister Nishantha wildly off the mark on past GDP growth rankings of Sri Lanka and China

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

State Minister Godahewa mostly true on relatively high population dependence on agriculture sector

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

Minister Gunawardana: right numbers but wrong conclusions on tax burden

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

MP Ranawaka notes a hidden aspect of Sri Lanka’s debt

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 GDP. To evaluate this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Annual Reports.

State minister Dayasiri Jayasekara on point on the plummeting of tourism earnings

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

Minister Namal Rajapaksa on COVID-19 management: declares victory in South Asia prematurely

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 using three criteria: (1) number of deaths per million, (2) number of tests per thousand alongside the associated positivity rate, and (3) percentage of population vaccinated.

Udaya Gammanpila at a loss on the reason for CEYPETCO losses

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

Lohan Ratwatte flat out wrong on vehicle loans

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

Premadasa correct on industry affected by X-Press Pearl disaster

Anura Kumara Dissanayake over-estimates money printing, on the face of it

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

MP S.M. Marikkar forgets Afghanistan in comparing Sri Lanka’s vaccination performance

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 referring to the number of people who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination. To evalu

MP Nalaka Kottegoda: wrong ranking on chemical fertiliser consumption by Sri Lanka

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

MP Rohana Bandara notes notable debt to China

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

MP Wimal Weerawansa makes industrious observations on industrial production

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 check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the National Accounts and Annual Exports Statistics published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and World Bank Development Indicators.  On claim (a), according

State Minister Cabraal: drives home the cost of past vehicle imports

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

MP Harsha de Silva highlights national accounting fraud

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.

Minister Alahapperuma: overstates forex earnings of Sri Lanka that can be credited to workforces dominated by women

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

MP karunathilaka credit worthy on income share of the richest 10%

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

Minister Lokuge: Not so strong on strength of EPF

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 the size and rates of return of those funds in relation to Sri Lanka’s EPF.

Minister Gunawardana: Partly lost on Sathosa losses

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 provides two different figures for 2014 in the 2014 and 2015 annual reports. FactCheck evaluated the minister’s statement on the basis of both sources.

Right on Sri Lanka being high on fats and sugar imports

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.

MP Cabraal: Not without fault on debt default claims

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). On this, interest rates have declined to very low levels, indicating low concern over credit risk. However, of the remaining non-ISB debt, it is no