FactCheck: Recent submissions
Now showing items 41-60 of 253
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Gayantha Karunatilleka: Students-to-academic staff ratio
(www.factcheck.lk, 11/30/2023)FALSE: Although the number of academic staff is dwindling [in recent months], the annual intake of students at universities has doubled since 2017. Gayantha Karunatilleka, NewsFirst, 19 October 2023 -
Sunanda Madduma Bandara: Local Government elections
(www.factcheck.lk, 11/23/2023)FALSE: […] all the local government elections held after 1991 have been postponed without being held within the stipulated time. […] Sunanda Madduma Bandara, Lankadeepa, 25 October 2023 -
Ranil Wickremesinghe: Money printing
(www.factcheck.lk, 11/9/2023)TRUE: We put the Central Bank there [in charge] without meddling in it. Henceforth, according to the law, we won’t be able to print money. We have lost our ability to borrow (obtain loans) from the Bank of Ceylon and the ... -
Udaya Gammanpila - Sinhala population in Colombo
(www.factcheck.lk, 9/14/2023)FALSE: According to the 1981 census, the Sinhala population in the city of Colombo was 51%. According to the 2012 census, the Sinhala population in the city of Colombo was 28%. The Sinhala population has reduced by half. ... -
Eran Wickramaratne - Remittances
(www.factcheck.lk, 10/12/2023)PARTLY TRUE: If we look at remittances, the highest amount of remittances have been received in 2016, 2017, 2018. Thereafter, some arrived in 2020 and after that, it has declined steadily. Remittances peaked at around USD ... -
Ranjith Siyambalapitiya: Casino taxes
(www.factcheck.lk, 10/5/2023)PARTLY TRUE: […] Effective April 1, 2023, we hope to impose a fee of USD 50 on every Sri Lankan who enters such a place of business of gaming. This law was in place since 2015. From 2015, the stated law was to charge USD ... -
Anuradha Jayaratne: Prison population
(www.factcheck.lk, 9/21/2023)TRUE: As of today, the total number of inmates in prisons are 28,468. […] the number of drug-related offenders has increased rapidly. As per today 50.3% of the total inmates are people who were imprisoned for drug related ... -
Niroshan Perera: Decline in industrial sector and exports
(www.factcheck.lk, 10/20/2023)PARTLY TRUE: …the exports have decreased by 19.5 %. […] in the first quarter of 2023, the industrial sector has collapsed by 23.4%. Niroshan Perera, YouTube page of Parliament of Sri Lanka, 23 August 2023 -
Nalaka Godahewa: Tax targets
(www.factcheck.lk, 10/26/2023)FALSE: […] The expected tax income for 2023 is Rs 3,130 billion [a 70% increase from 2022]. It is not something practical. Since the tax net is not functioning properly, the tax burden will fall on the same people who paid ... -
Harsha de Silva: Real Returns on EPF
(www.factcheck.lk, 9/29/2023)TRUE: […] In the [EPF] Act itself it specifies 2.5% return. […] at the time inflation was at around 1 percent, if you look at 5 years prior to 1958, the average would have been 1 percent. […] Over the years, some years ... -
Wimalaweera Dissanayake: Health sector
(www.factcheck.lk, 9/7/2023)PARTLY TRUE: Even in the midst of all the shortcomings, it’s Sri Lanka that has the best health service in South Asia. Wimalaweera Dissanayake, The Life Traveler, 19 July 2023 -
Harini Amarasuriya: Unpaid care work
(www.factcheck.lk, 8/17/2023)TRUE: …there are a few factors that are not considered when measuring the contribution to the labour force…[a] large chunk of unremunerated work done by women is the main type of work that is not included in these statistics. ... -
Udaya Gammanpila: Provident funds
(www.factcheck.lk, 8/10/2023)TRUE: In addition to the provident fund of the general public, CBSL also maintains a separate provident fund for its officers […] CBSL invested its funds in places where it could get the highest returns and credited an ... -
Rauff Hakeem: Governance and Economic Crimes
(www.factcheck.lk, 8/3/2023)PARTLY TRUE: Come September, we will be the first Asian country to be subjected to IMF review of governance diagnostic. [...] In the meantime, even in the Geneva Resolution against Sri Lanka, they spoke about the need to ... -
Udaya Gammanpila: Domestic Debt Restructuring
(www.factcheck.lk, 7/27/2023)TRUE: The IMF has not imposed a condition saying to restructure domestic debt. ….. That being the case, who has intimidated us to the point of doing this? What has happened is that foreign bondholders – sovereign bondholders ... -
Ranjith Siyabalapitiya: Vehicle imports
(www.factcheck.lk, 7/20/2023)TRUE: ...within that period [2015-2020], we have brought 2,498,714 vehicles...worth Rs. 1,331.51 billion...We have taxed [them to the value of] 991.12 billion. Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, YouTube Page of Parliament of Sri ... -
Harin Fernando: Chinese tourists
(www.factcheck.lk, 7/13/2023)PARTLY TRUE: If each Chinese tourist spent $5,000 that could raise a figure comparable to the recent International Monetary Fund bailout…If you really look at it, tourism can get Sri Lanka out of this mess. Harin Fernando, ... -
Ranil Wickremesinghe: Inflation
(www.factcheck.lk, 7/7/2023)PARTLY TRUE: Inflation, which had skyrocketed to 70 percent, has now decreased to 25.2 percent, lightening the burden of daily life for all of us. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Presidential Secretariat of Sri Lanka, 1 June 2023 -
Kabir Hashim: Poverty line
(www.factcheck.lk, 6/29/2023)TRUE: “…by 2019…the poverty line[sic] of this country was 11%…it has grown to 25% by 2023. I believe it is more than that. But the World Bank has calculated that it is only 25%, which means that out of 22 million in this ... -
Udaya Gammanpila: Increase in electricity bill
(www.factcheck.lk, 6/22/2023)PARTLY TRUE: From the very short period between last year's August and this year's March…the [electricity] bill increase [was]…1,138% for the poor man [a consumer who uses 30 units] and 160% for the rich man [a person using ...