Anura Kumara Dissanayake: false data and flawed claims

In his statement, MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake uses data on Provincial Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to make the following claims:

• GDP share of the Western Province is 52 per cent,while GDP share of areas outside the Western Province is 48 per cent; and
• GDP has stagnated outside of the Western Province.

Are these claims true?

Fact checking claim 1: According to MP Dissanayake, the provincial GDP figures he uses are taken from the CBSL Annual Report. However, the provincial GDP share figures quoted by the MP are very different to those in the CBSL Annual Report 2017, which contains the latest data.according to latest data, the share of GDP held by the Western Province is not 52 per cent, but rather is 39.7 per cent.the Report indicates that the collective share of GDP held by areas outside the Western Province is not 48 per cent, but rather is 60.3 per cent.

The complete set of provincial GDP data retrieved from the CBSL Annual Report 2017 is given in Exhibit 1.

Fact checking claim 2: The CBSL Annual Report’s data on provincial GDP share over time contradicts MP Dissanayake’s second claim. While MP Dissanayake claims that GDP has stagnated outside of the Western Province, the data shows that the total share of GDP held by provinces other than Western province has increased from 57.2 per cent in 2012 to 60.3 per cent in 2016.

Verdict: Official data contradicts not only the statistics given by the Mpon the provincial shares of GDP, but also his conclusion that GDP has stagnated outside the Western Province. The Cbslannual Report supports exactly the opposite conclusion: in the last four years, the GDP of provinces outside the Western Province has grown significantly and at a faster rate than the GDP of the Western Province.

Taking all information into account,we have classified MP Dissanayake’s statement as “BLATANTLY FALSE”.