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Where do 92 Octane and Auto Diesel stand after the recent price reduction? (June 2024)
No full textThis IKR entry contains 2 infographics in English.On 31 May 2024, fuel prices in Sri Lanka were reduced. The price of 92-octane petrol was lowered by LKR 13, bringing it to LKR 355 per litre, while Auto diesel saw a reduction of LKR 16, lowering the price to LKR 317 per litre.
However, despite these reductions, the current market prices of petrol and diesel are still higher than the fuel price formula, as shown by the Fuel Price Tracker. As of 03 June 2024, the market prices for petrol and diesel are LKR 18.43 and LKR 19.86 higher than the formula price, respectively.
The formula prices decreased by LKR 27 for petrol and LKR 17 for diesel. However, the government only reduced the price of petrol by LKR 13 and diesel by LKR 16.
Additionally, the government also charges LKR 140 in taxes on petrol and LKR 106 on diesel. With the exception of these taxes, the cost of selling a litre of petrol is LKR 197, and LKR 192 for diesel
Sri Lanka has highest electricity charges in South Asia
No full textp.2Virakesari (9 February 2024) page 2 features the electricity rates of Sri Lanka being the highest charges in South Asia, press release which was sent out in February 2024. This feature has been published in Tamil. This research was conducted by the Public Finance, Economics Team at Verite Research
20240124_P0094_FC_EranWickramaratne_DefenceExpenditure
No full textThis submission includes English, Sinhala, and Tamil versions of the fact check.TRUE: When considering the Ministry of Defence, we spent 7% of the total budget for 2022 on it [Ministry of Defence] ... 60% of that goes to pay wages…Sri Lanka is one out of ten countries that has the greatest number of soldiers per 100 citizens. If we take 200 countries, we are in the first 10. Sri Lanka is a country that has around 1.5 soldiers for every 100 citizens.
Eran Wickramaratne, Parliament, 14 November 202
Sajith Premadasa: Child poverty
No full textThis submission includes English, Sinhala, and Tamil versions of the fact check.TRUE: According to international statistics 25 percent of children in Sri Lanka are suffering from child poverty. […] Statistics have shown that 42 percent of our country's children are suffering from multidimensional poverty.
Sajith Premadasa, Hiru News, 22 July 202
"සුරූපී" නැවතත්? - කාන්තාවන් ඒකාකෘතික කිරීම් සහ මාධ්ය ආචාර ධර්ම
No full textThis entry includes a write-up and an infographic (both in Sinhala).On January 7, 2024, Hiru news covered an incident involving the exhumation of a woman's body from a cemetery. The report referred to the deceased using the terms "සුරූපී (Surupi)" and "සුරූපිනිය (Surupiniya)". Such references to physical appearance can contribute to the objectification and stereotyping of women. Media is advised to present relevant facts in an objective manner, rather than using sensational language
රාජ්ය අමාත්ය සනත් නිශාන්ත පෙරේරා ජීවිතක්ෂයට පත් වූ හදිසි අනතුර සහ අවමංගල්ය කටයුතු පිළිබඳව සිංහල පුවත්පත් හා රූපවාහිනී පුවත් වාර්තාකරණ ඔස්සේ
No full textThis entry includes a write-up and an infographic (both in Sinhala).On January 25 and 26, 2024, multiple newspapers, including Aruna, Dinamina, Mawbima, Lankadeepa, Divaina, and TV news such as Hiru, Rupavahini, Derana, Sirasa, Swarnavahini, and Siyatha, disclosed the identities of Sanath Nishantha's underage children when reporting on his death. Such disclosures carry potential risks of disruption to the children's school life and privacy. In contrast, Ada newspaper adhered to ethical reporting standards, covering the incident without revealing the identities of the minors involved
20240605_P0110_FC_HeshaWithanage_SLALosses
No full textThis submission includes English, Sinhala, and Tamil versions of the fact check.TRUE: By the end of the 2023 financial year, the losses of SriLankan Airlines amounted to Rs. 609 billion […] Every family in this country, […] has been placed in a position where they have to pay Rs. 107,000.
Hesha Withanage, Parliament, 8 May 202
Trend Analysis of Violence Against Christians in Sri Lanka: November 2022 - October 2023
No full text59p. This study was compiled by Verité Media, a division of Verité Research. Jonathan Cruse was the lead researcher and author of the study.This study examines critical trends in religiously motivated violence against Christians between November 2022 and October 2023, based on data collated by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL).
The study unpacks three empirical insights into factors that lead to violence against Christians. These insights are data-driven explanations of who the primary perpetrators are, their main targets, and the modality through which they incite violence against Christians. The study also provides insight into harmful speech content against prominent religions in Sri Lanka found on online platforms
How did the government finance its expenditure in 2023?
No full textThis IKR entry contains one infographic in English, Sinhala and Tamil.The 2023 fiscal numbers, recently released through the Central Bank of Sri Lanka's Annual Economic Review, reveal that the Government of Sri Lanka's total expenditure for 2023 was LKR 5,357 billion. A significant portion of this expenditure, amounting to LKR 2,456 billion (43%), was spent on interest payments for existing government debt. This was followed by transfer payments at LKR 1,005 billion and salaries and wages at LKR 939 billion.
The government financed 57% of its expenditure through revenue sources, primarily taxes, which amounted to LKR 3,017 billion. The main revenue contributors were taxes on domestic goods and services (mainly VAT and excise duties) totaling LKR 1,399 billion, and taxes on income and profit (mainly corporate and personal income taxes) totaling LKR 911 billion.
The remaining 43% of the government expenditure was financed through borrowings, amounting to LKR 2,282 billion. Notably, the government had to borrow just to cover its interest payments for the year, which totaled LKR 2,456 billion. This additional borrowing to cover the budget deficit increases the total amount of government debt, ultimately raising the interest bill further
The Gender Pay Gap in Sri Lanka: A Statistical Review with Policy Implications
Get PDF84p. This report was prepared by the International Labour Organization, Country Office for Sri Lanka, and the Maldives (ILO CO- Colombo) in the framework of Sri Lanka’s Decent Work Country Program 2018-2024. Verite Research (Sri Lanka), guided by Ms Rosalia Vazquez-Alvarez (Econometrician and Wage Specialist) and the ILO wage group in Geneva (ILO-INWORK) and Mr Anoop Satpathy (Wage Specialist, CO-Colombo), provided research services including conducting the stakeholder’s interviews to accomplish Chapter 5 in the report. The research services for this study were provided by the Verite Research team under the supervision of Prof. Dileni Gunawardena and Dr Venya de Silva. The team is especially indebted to the core research team members: Ms Chinthani Sooriyamudali, Mr Ashvin Perera, Ms Portia Kemps, Ms Isurika Perera, Ms Eshana Rajaratnam, Ms Sumini Siyambalapitiya, Mr Savant Gamage, Ms Dilushi Siriwardena, Ms Hashini de Silva, Ms Onellie Perera, Ms Sahithri de Silva, and Mr Anuk Siyambalapitiya for their remarkable support.This report provides the first in-depth quantitative and qualitative analysis of the gender pay gap in Sri Lanka with the intention to unveil not just the extent of the gender pay gap, but the nature of the gender pay gap in the country. Using labour force surveys from 2013 to 2021, this report examines gender differences on selected labour market outcomes to draw a historical perspective of women and men in the labour market that sets the context for the analysis of what lies behind the gender pay gap in Sri Lanka. Estimates and decomposition of the gender pay gap in the report follow the methodology applied in the Global Wage Report (ILO 2018). These estimates include the estimation of the classic mean and median gender pay gaps across time and between groups of labour market participants; the estimation of the factor-weighted gender pay gap, a method that allows estimating raw gender pay gaps while controlling for composition effects; the decomposition of the gender pay gap at different deciles of the hourly wage distribution to identify the unexplained component behind pay gaps at different deciles; and a review of the policy recommendations in light of the empirical findings. The empirical sections and the policy recommendations are complemented with a qualitative survey that elicits the views of key stakeholder in Sri Lanka to highlight the perceived relevance of the topic among key policy drivers in the country