FactCheck: Recent submissions

Now showing items 221-240 of 253

    • Vijitha Herath: Interest Payments and Government Income 

      S998;
      FactCheck       (www.factcheck.lk, 7/10/2019)
      FALSE: According to the 2018 Central Bank Annual Report, when the total income was Rs. 1,920 billion, the interest payments were at Rs. 2,088 billion. There was a deficit of Rs. 168 billion. - Vijitha Herath, Divaina, 28 May 2019

    • Eran Wickramaratne: Tourism Percentage of GDP 

      S952;
      FactCheck       (www.factcheck.lk, 7/10/2019)
      TRUE: Sri Lanka’s tourism sector accounts for 5% of gross domestic product. - Eran Wickramaratne, Dinamina, 22 May 2019

    • Tilak Marapana: Release of military acquired lands 

      S750;
      FactCheck       (www.factcheck.lk, 6/13/2019)
      PARTLY TRUE: Of the 71,172.56 acres of state-owned land occupied by the security forces, 63,257.48 acres were released between May 2009 and 12 March 2019. This is a release of 88.87% of the initially occupied land. - Tilak ...

    • Ranil Wickremesinghe: Penal code on foreign terrorist organizations 

      E;
      FactCheck       (www.factcheck.lk, 5/2/2019)
      FALSE: “To take part in a foreign armed uprising is not an offence here…. there is no law to prevent you from that." - Ranil Wickremesinghe, Interview with SkyNews, 26 April 2019

    • Thalatha Atukorale: Prison statistics 

      S853;
      FactCheck       (www.factcheck.lk, 5/23/2019)
      PARTLY TRUE: There are close to 22,000 inmates in prisons. Of them, a large number is serving sentences that are less than two years. - Thalatha Atukorale, Dinamina, 10 April 2019

    • John Amaratunga: Tourism earnings 

      E377;
      FactCheck       (www.factcheck.lk, 5/16/2019)
      TRUE: When he took office in 2015, there were 1.5 million tourist arrivals and in 2018, it increased to 2.3 million. Tourism revenue was USD 2.5 billion and reached USD 4.3 billion in the same time period. - John Amaratunga, ...

    • Maithripala Sirisena: Women in the public sector 

      S776;
      FactCheck       (www.factcheck.lk, 6/6/2019)
      FALSE: of [public sector employees], 70% are women. - Maithripala Sirisena, Dinamina, 28 March 2019

    • Mangala Samaraweera: Rupee appreciation 

      E355;
      FactCheck       (www.factcheck.lk, 4/11/2019)
      TRUE: "During the past 2 months, the rupee has appreciated by 2.5%." - Mangala Samaraweera, Daily News, 13 March 2019

    • Harshana Rajakaruna: MPs not speaking in Parliament 

      S637;
      FactCheck       (www.factcheck.lk, 3/28/2019)
      TRUE: As a whole, 95% of MPs have spoken [in parliament in 2018]. It is only 5% who haven't spoken. - Harshana Rajakaruna, Silumina, 3 March 2019

    • Rajitha Senaratne: Cigarette taxes 

      E325;
      FactCheck       (factchecklka - Facebook, 3/14/2019)
      FALSE: "We have acted appropriately against the use of tobacco and imposed a 90% tax on tobacco in an attempt to reduce tobacco usage." - Rajitha Senaratne, Daily News, 20 February 2019

    • Mahinda Rajapaksa: Debt 

      E248;
      FactCheck       (factchecklka - Facebook, 3/21/2019)
      FALSE: "In the past four years, the UNP-led government has borrowed the equivalent of 50% of the total national debt that was outstanding as at the end of December 2014 from the loans taken in the six decades after gaining ...

    • Rajitha Senaratne: WHO on SL Health Service Rank 

      S554;
      FactCheck       (www.factcheck.lk, 5/30/2019)
      FALSE: Within the world healthcare system, the fact that the best health service is provided by Cuba and Sri Lanka has been accepted by the World Health Organization. - Rajitha Senaratne, Mawbima, 4 February 2019

    • Sagala Ratnayaka: Health and Education Budget Allocation 

      S553;
      FactCheck       (factchecklka - Facebook, 2/27/2019)
      FALSE: Last year the allocation for the education and health sectors in the country made up 25% of the total budget. - Sagala Ratnayaka, Mawbima, 4 February 2019

    • Nalinda Jayatissa: tea and rubber 

      S551;
      FactCheck       (factchecklka - Facebook, 3/6/2019)
      TRUE: the tea industry adds $1.5 billion to the economy of this country and the rubber industry adds $0.8 billion. - Nalinda Jayatissa, Mawbima, 4 February 2019

    • Maithripala Sirisena: absolute poverty 

      E314;
      FactCheck       (factchecklka - Facebook, 4/4/2019)
      PARTLY TRUE: The absolute poverty ratio of the country has been reported as 6.7%... - Maithripala Sirisena, 4 February 2019, Independence Day Speech

    • Anura Kumara Dissanayake: estate workers 

      E302;
      FactCheck       (factchecklka - Facebook, 2/21/2019)
      TRUE: “They [estate workers] spend 50 percent of their earnings on food." - Anura Kumara Dissanayake, 25 January 2019, Daily News

    • Sisira Jayakody: TNA dual citizenship 

      S475;
      FactCheck       (factchecklka - Facebook, 8/2/2019)
      BLATANTLY FALSE: We know that some of the MPs of the Tamil National Alliance have dual citizenship. - Sisira Jayakody, 2 January 2019, Divaina

    • Mahinda Rajapaksa: economic growth 

      V0003;
      FactCheck       (factchecklka - Facebook, 12/10/2018)
      FALSE: In the nine years I was in power, I increased the GDP per capita of this country by a multiple of three. In that period, the economic growth rate was 7.4%. - Mahinda Rajapaksa, 25 November 2018, Derana TV

    • Maithripala Sirisena: Undernourishment 

      S347;
      FactCheck       (factchecklka - Facebook, 1/9/2019)
      FALSE: Around 16 or 17 percent of Sri Lankans are undernourished. - Maithripala Sirisena, 18 October 2018, Lankadeepa

    • Bandula Gunawardana: Bond Commission report 

      V0001;
      FactCheck       (factchecklka - Facebook, 11/14/2018)
      BLATANTLY FALSE: In early February 2018, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna District MP and party spokesman M.A. Sumanthiran sabotaged an adjournment debate on the treasury bond scam report. The newspaper went on to say ...