President Wickremesinghe claimed that “money printing” is currently prevented by enacting the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Act No. 16 of 2023 (CBA23). To verify this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the CBA23 and

In an interview with Aruna, MP Godahewa made two claims: (1) the increase in tax revenue by 70% in the 2023 budget compared to 2022 is not practical, and (2) the tax hike has resulted in a 70% reduction in the

Today’s the anniversary Of the day I lost you, And for a time it felt as though My life had ended too.

In a parliamentary speech, the MP made two claims: (1) exports have decreased by 19.5%, and (2) the industrial sector has collapsed by 23.4% in the first quarter of 2023. To verify these claims, FactCheck.lk consulted the export and Gross Domestic P

During a Samagi Jana Balawegaya press conference, MP Wickramaratne made two claims in relation to remittances: (i) the highest amount of remittances was received during the 2016-2018 period,

The statement in question was part of a longer parliamentary speech discussing the Betting and Gaming Levy (Amendment) Act, No. 11 of 2023 (BGL23). State Minister Siyambalapitiya argued that policymakers had made amendments to the taxation of casinos

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

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

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 b

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, c

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

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

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 con

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 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,

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 selecte

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

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 conce

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, agains

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

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 evalua

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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 deci

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 2