copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Mount Everest During Winter !! (Social Media Users, 2022-11-12)
Evidence (2024-07-10): The weather and climate of Mount Everest is one of extremes. Temperatures at the summit are never above freezing and during January temperatures can drop as low as -60° C (-76° F). Despite the low temperatures the biggest issue faced by climbers are hurricane force winds and wind chill. When the jet stream dips south during the winter hurricane force winds may develop reaching more than 285 km/h (177 mph). These winds relax in the month of May and most climbers try to attempt the peak during this short window. [...] 1. Winter Weather at Everest: Winter weather (Nov to Feb) is dominated by the southward migration of the northern hemisphere jet stream which brings high winds, cold temperatures and on occasion heavy snow falls. Winter can be a great time for trekking as the crowds trying to avoid the cold clear out. Day temperatures are comfortable and sunny skies generally prevail although it can get well below freezing at night. [...] Wind chill and low temperatures combined with high elevation make the summit of Everest one of the least hospitable places on the planet during the winter. The adjusted wind chill temperatures of 70C (-90F) observed on the summit compare to the worlds coldest places such the record cold -67.8C (-90F) in Siberia and -89C (129F) measured at Vostok in Antarctica.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2024-05-19): The claims circulating on social media about Sri Lanka halting debt payments since July 2022 are inaccurate. The Ministry of Finance’s data confirms that significant debt repayments have been made, totaling nearly US$ 2 billion from mid-2022 to early 2024. The government continues to manage its financial obligations despite economic challenges.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2023-04-04): The decision (March 20, 2023) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to approve Sri Lanka’s Program under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), though belated, is a major boost to RW. He had assumed the presidency of Sri Lanka in July 2022 under extraneous circumstances. RW must be counting the several takeaways from the IMF decision. The unprecedented economic crisis, the political instability, worrisome law and order situation brought about by President Gotabaya’s Rajapaksa’s (GR) questionable decisions and consequently leading to his resignation from office was a major political challenge to RW. The credit must certainly go to RW and his team for staying the course throughout 2022. Importantly, the situation has eased to a large extent. It will require however RW’s political acumen to navigate the many challenges that will be encountered in meeting the expectations of the domestic constituency and the international community to the commitments made to the IMF.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2022-07-21): July 21, 2022Sri Lanka's newly elected President Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in Thursday during a ceremony at the parliamentary complex in Colombo amid heavy security.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2022-07-20): The political turmoil in Sri Lanka has worsened the economic crisis. But Wickremesinghe said Monday that negotiations with the IMF were nearing a conclusion, while talks on help from other countries had also progressed. He also said that the government has taken steps to resolve shortages of fuel and cooking gas.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2022-07-20): Rajapaksa’s government had not admitted that Sri Lanka was "bankrupt" and "needed to go to the International Monetary Fund," Wickremesinghe said.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2022-07-22): In this photo provided by Sri Lankan President’s Office, lawmaker Lakshman Kiriella, left, former president Maithripala Sirisena, center and former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, right attend the swearing in ceremony of Sri Lanka’s newly elected president Ranil Wickremesinghe, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, July 21, 2022. (Sri Lankan President’s Office via AP) A man holds a newspaper with news of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, July 21, 2022. Sri Lanka’s prime minister was elected president Wednesday by lawmakers who opted for a seasoned, veteran leader to lead the country out of economic collapse, despite widespread public opposition. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) [...] A man pedals past vandalized walls of the official residence of the president the day after Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected president in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, July 21, 2022. Sri Lanka’s prime minister was elected president Wednesday by lawmakers who opted for a seasoned, veteran leader to lead the country out of economic collapse, despite widespread public opposition. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2024-09-06): Under Wickremesinghe, important economic figures have improved: Inflation dropped below 5% from 70% in 2022, interest rates were lowered, and foreign reserves grew. A 2% growth is predicted for 2024, the highest since the economic collapse, but financial benefits have not reached the common people, many of whom are affected by high living costs. Businesses and professionals are complaining of high taxes.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2024-10-06): - ^ a b Stepansky, Joseph (20 July 2022). "Sri Lanka live news: Ranil Wickremesinghe elected president". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022. [...] - ^ "Sri Lanka Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe declares Emergency". The Hindu. 18 July 2022. Archived from the original on 19 July 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022. [...] - ^ "Sri Lanka presidency a close contest after frontrunner pulls out". Al Jazeera. 19 July 2022. Archived from the original on 19 July 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2022-07-15): The spiralling economic crisis led to Sri Lanka defaulting on its $51-billion foreign debt in April, and it is in talks with the IMF for a possible bailout.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2022-08-16): We interviewed the president of Sri Lanka in Colombo on August 14th 2022. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2022-07-20): Wickremesinghe takes office as Sri Lanka's economy continues to face soaring inflation, and shortages of essential goods like food, fuel and medicine. Many Sri Lankans are still waiting hours in line to buy basic supplies, often at prices that have doubled or tripled in recent months. The World Food Program's most recent analysis reported that 86% of families were either skipping meals, eating less or buying worse food.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2022-07-21): Wickremesinghe has warned that he will "firmly" deal with the largely peaceful protest movement known as Aragalaya [meaning struggle in Sinhala language] that erupted in April after the country faced acute shortages of electricity and other essential items due to a lack of foreign reserves. The country defaulted on its $51bn external debt the same month. [...] Since retaking the post of prime minister in May, he claimed to have re-established Sri Lanka’s foreign relations, proposed constitutional reforms to clip the president’s powers and held talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in efforts to stabilise the economy.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2024-05-21): Since President Wickremesinghe assumed office in July 2022, Sri Lanka has repaid approximately $2 billion in debt. [...] Social media posts alleged that Sri Lanka has not made any loan payments since President Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed office in July 2022, with some asserting a debt payment halt for 10 months. [...] Title:Since President Wickremesinghe assumed office in July 2022, Sri Lanka has repaid approximately $2 billion in debt.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2022-07-15): Sri Lanka has run short of money to pay for imports of basic necessities such as food, fertilizer, medicine and fuel, to the despair of its 22 million people. Its rapid economic decline has been all the more shocking because, before this crisis, the economy had been expanding, with a growing, comfortable middle class.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2022-07-14): Over the past decade, the Sri Lankan government has borrowed vast sums of money from foreign lenders to fund public services, said Murtaza Jafferjee, chair of Colombo-based think tank Advocata Institute. [...] Sri Lanka then had to fall back on its foreign exchange reserves to pay off government debt, shrinking its reserves. This impacted imports of fuel and other essentials, which sent prices soaring.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2024-04-01): In the span of two years, Sri Lanka saw one of the biggest protests in South Asia, ousted a president and his government, defaulted on its sovereign debt, declared bankruptcy, appointed an unelected president, went to the IMF for a bailout loan, delayed elections, moved even further away from justice and reconciliation, and celebrated 75 years of independence. While the resignation of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family from government hinted at change for the country, the appointment of Ranil Wickremesinghe demonstrated a firm commitment to lack of reform or accountability. Austerity, intimidation, instability, and further decay followed. These economic and non-economic shocks converged to reveal a country where multiple crises of dissent, debt, decay, and decline were inextricably bound together, with no way forward yet in sight. Sri Lanka in 2022 and 2023: Things Fall Apart—Can Sri Lanka Hold On?
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2023-03-20): Sri Lanka has been in arrears to external private creditors since the April 2022 moratorium, including $1,633 million to International Sovereign Bond (ISB) holders, $338 million to China Development Bank (CDB), and $7 million to other foreign commercial creditors as of December 2022.25 The authorities, through their financial and legal advisors, are making good faith efforts to reach a collaborative agreement with these private creditors. In particular, they have engaged in early dialogue with them since June 2022, and shared relevant information through an investor presentation held in September 2022 (followed by a detailed document addressing investors’ questions) and the publication of detailed debt statistics in November 2022. The authorities’ advisors have also shared, under non-disclosure agreements with the advisors to ISB holder committees and CDB, key information presented to official bilateral creditors so that private creditors have an early opportunity to provide input on the design of restructuring strategies. The ad hoc group of ISB holders (holding about half of outstanding ISBs) issued an open letter to the IMF in February 2023 expressing its readiness to negotiate a debt relief with Sri Lanka that restores debt sustainability consistent with program parameters.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2022-11-01): One oft-invoked example of unsustainable borrowing under the BRI is the case of Sri Lanka, and, in particular, the Hambantota port, which has failed to create projected revenues but instead incurred $300m in losses (Sum, 2019: 545). Yet project specifics are at times misrepresented in mainstream analyses (see Brautigam, 2020). Indeed, the Sri Lankan government has also extensively borrowed from non-Chinese sources, and officials have insisted that the government had signed the loan for the port without pressure from Beijing. As Jones and Hameiri point out, ‘China’s engagement was shaped by profit-seeking SOEs. Colombo’s application for Chinese funding was strongly encouraged by China Harbour Engineering Group (CHEG)’, which facilitated a $307 million commercial buyer’s credit from China Exim Bank for the first project phase (Jones and Hameiri, 2020: 14; see Brautigam, 2020). Importantly, the privatisation of Hambantota port was not the result of a debt-for-equity swap, as is often falsely reported. After a change in government, Sri Lanka rather leased the port for 99 years to China Merchants Port Holdings by means of a majority stake (70 per cent) in a joint venture with Sri Lanka’s port authority for an upfront payment of $1.12bn. [...] Ishak, N. (2022) Can Sri Lanka dig itself out of a $50 billion debt? A mountain of foreign debt has led the country to default on loans for the first time since its 1948 independence, Vox, www.vox.com/2022/4/30/23050242/sri-lanka-50-billion-debt-protests-loan-default-china-india-imf.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2021-11-04): 43 Even the most widely cited example of debt trap diplomacy outside Africa, the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka, has been shown to actually be a more complicated problem created by "a persistent balance of payment (BOP) crisis resulting from the reduction of trade over the years" while the port faced external debt servicing costs, most of which were not Chinese loans. At the end of 2017, Chinese loans only amounted to 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s total debt. 44 International sovereign bonds composed the largest part of Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt at 39 percent. In the face of external debt servicing costs, Sri Lanka needed foreign currency inflows. Sri Lanka leased the Hambantota port to China Merchants Port Holdings Co. Ltd. to increase its foreign reserves.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2023-08-02): The third misconception is that Chinese debt was responsible for inducing Sri Lanka’s debt distress. In reality, Sri Lanka’s debt crisis arose from excessive borrowing on Western-dominated capital markets to finance the government’s exorbitant and unsustainable deficit spending. (Jones & Hameiri, 2020). By 2016, 61% of the government’s budget was funded by foreign loans, with total government debt increasing by 52% between 2009 and 2016 (Jones & Hameiri, 2020). As a result, an estimated three-quarters of external government debt was owed to private financial institutions (Jones & Hameiri, 2020). In 2016, Sri Lankan debt related to Hambantota Port totalled $1.3 billion, comprising only 4.8% of the government’s total external debt (Jones & Hameiri, 2020). In the same year, according to the Sri Lankan Central Bank, repayment costs for the project were $67.5 million, making up a mere 3.3% of the $2.03 billion that went to servicing foreign debt (Jones & Hameiri, 2020).
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2024-09-13): The foreign loans obtained to construct the expressways and have not been repaid yet amount to Rs. 800 billion. The annual profit [from expressways] is Rs. 5 billion. Even if we continue to earn a profit of Rs. 5 billion in this way, it will take us 160 years to repay this debt. [...] In 2022, when we were going through the gravest foreign exchange crisis this country has ever faced, one of the main factors for it was remittances from foreign workers. After that the income from tourism. [...] As of now (February 2021), the total ISBs outstanding is USD 14 billion, which is only 16.7 percent of Sri Lanka’s total debt. None of the other creditors who hold 83.3 percent of Sri Lanka’s debt seem to show any sign of concern or stress about its repayment ability. We have to repay only around US
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2024-08-20): This article studies the parallel evolution of Sri Lanka’s domestic politics and China’s foreign financing in Sri Lanka’s post-independence era through four lenses, namely, political opposition, political gains, economic structure, and institutions. We focus on the bilateral relationship prior to Sri Lanka’s economic liberalization and the aftermath of the middle-income transition and add three major findings to the literature. Firstly, Chinese economic engagements continue to have substantial political opposition in Sri Lanka. But the nature of such opposition evolved from ideology-based to sovereignty-based anti-China sentiments, which heavily correlate with elections. Economic relations with China have continued to evolve as political gains, which helped maintain government popularity in the short-to-medium term and exceeded the costs inflicted by political opposition. Secondly, the nature of the bilateral economic relationship has become more complex, moving from being purely government-to-government to involving multiple actors: Chinese policy banks, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and the private sector. Thirdly, despite differences, Sri Lanka’s governments have utilized economic relations with China for short-term political gains and to avoid structural reforms, especially in the run-up to Sri Lanka’s sovereign default and unprecedented economic crisis in 2022.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2024-10-01): Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, RWP, RSP (Sinhala: නන්දසේන ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ; Tamil: நந்தசேன கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ஷ; born 20 June 1949) is a former Sri Lankan politician and military officer, who served as the eighth president of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022.[6] He previously served as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development from 2005 to 2015 under the administration of his elder brother former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during the final phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War. [...] - ^ "Sri Lanka does not need the IMF at the moment, no default: Minister Cabraal". economynext.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022. [...] - ^ "Sri Lanka: President confirms resignation, PM's office says". BBC News. 11 July 2022. Archived from the original on 11 July 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2023-10-19): The agreement came almost one year after the government of Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced Sri Lanka’s imminent default on its sovereign debt, becoming the first Asia–Pacific country to do so in over two decades. This admission of inability to service external loans underlined the severity of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis that first broke in 2021 and sparked widespread and large-scale protests between March and July 2022. [...] As of March 2022, useable foreign reserves had plunged to 400 million US dollars, which was less than a week’s import bill. Meanwhile, the amount of debt to be serviced between 2022 and 2027 had grown to gargantuan proportions: on average, Sri Lanka had to find over 4 billion dollars each year to repay creditors, while a staggering 7 billion was needed in 2023 alone. The due dates for repayment of several international sovereign bonds were fast approaching, while the island’s useable foreign reserves had dipped all the way to 25 million dollars by April 2022. The state treasury consisted of loans and currency swaps, rather than income from revenue and investment. Its composition aside, reserves were nowhere near enough to meet Sri Lanka’s external obligations even for the following month. [...] The government of Sri Lanka began putting out feelers to the IMF in mid-March 2022, and made its interest in a new programme clear in April 2022 as defaulting on its foreign debt became unavoidable.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2024-07-29): RWs real achievement however was in handling the transition of power in the days following 9 July 2022. His own private residence in Colombo had been burnt to the ground. After President Gotabaya had left the country and RW had become Acting President, on 13 July 2022 the JVP tried to take over the Parliament. JVP leaders are on record stating that their intention was to take over Parliament and get the MPs to do their bidding. On the night of 13 July some soldiers on duty near Parliament were brutally assaulted and their guns and ammunition stolen by protestors. In the midst of all this the Parliamentary political party leaders’ caucus called on RW to resign in order to placate the mobs. To his eternal credit, he refused to resign and ordered the armed forces to disperse the JVP led mobs near Parliament which was executed successfully. [...] Ironically, RW once described Gotabaya Rajapaksa as a ‘kammuthu karanna’ (terminator). Yet real terminator of everything he touches, is RW himself. He took over the leadership of the UNP in 1994 and kammuthufied what was then Sri Lanka’s biggest and most powerful political party. He took over a booming economy in 2015 and kammuthufied it. He became President with Pohottuwa votes in Parliament and he has already half-kammuthufied the Pohottuwa. In the past several months he has kept the US Dollar rate low without importing vehicles and without paying foreign debt. The next President to take over will have to import vehicles and also start repaying foreign debt causing the US Dollar rate to shoot up, giving rise to a cost of living crisis.
Claim: Since President RW Assumed Office In July 2022, Sri Lanka Has NOT Repaid Foreign Loans !! (Social Media Users, 2024-05-19)
Evidence (2024-10-08): -Human Rights Watch (Lanka-e-News -15.Jan.2023, 11.10 pm) The change of presidents of Sri Lanka in 2022 did not lead to any improvement in the country’s human rights record, Human Rights Watch said today(12) in its World Report 2023. During 2022, thousands of Sri Lankans too Read more >> [...] (Lanka-e-News-25.March.2022, 8.35 pm) President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has agreed to set up a multi-billion dollar fund from the Tamil Diaspora for development in the North and East. The fund is not for repaying loans in Sri Lanka but only for development ac Read more >> [...] (Lanka-e-News-18.March.2022, 3.25 am) According to China's foreign financial sector information, it is reported that Sri Lanka has not been able to repay the foreign loan due to China. Sri Lanka owes $ 53.596 million to China Development Bank, $ 17 millio Read more >>