Last month, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka entered into an agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank, New York (FED) under its temporary ‘FIMA Repo Facility’. MP Harsha de Silva describe

Former Minister of Health Rajitha Senaratne transmits incorrect information on malaria incidence. To evaluate forme

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

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

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

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

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 201

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

This fact check interprets the former MP’s statement as referring to the commitment of expendable financing—which is not limit

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

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

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.

In his statement former Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa claimed that—based on the reduction in global fuel prices—domestic

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).

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

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).

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

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

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

The MP in his statement is attempting to quantify the net loss, through the state-owned airlines, which then translates into additional national debt.

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 ch

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 authorit

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 LK

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

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, barr

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 Univer

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 bro

​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

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

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 th