President Ranil Wickremesinghe is correct about the national carrier SriLankan Airlines’ soaring losses, according to FactCheck.lk of Verite Research.
The current president made this claim when he was the prime minister.
To evaluate the claim, FactCheck.lk said in a press release, that it consulted the Sri Lankan Airlines’ Annual Reports from 2007 to 2021.
Each annual report gives the profits and losses for a financial year, which runs from April to March.
The annual report for the 2020/21 financial year (April 2020 to March 2021) reports that the airline has a loss of LKR 45.39 billion in the financial year, and that the resulting accumulated losses of SLA were LKR 371.73 billion.
These figures provided by SLA are in line with the President’s claim (see Exhibit 1).
Therefore, we classify his statement as TRUE, said the press release.
FactCheck.lk’s verdict is based on the most recent information that is publicly accessible.
As with every fact check, if new information becomes available, FactCheck.lk will revisit the assessment.
SriLankan Airlines has not made a profit since the 2007/08 financial year.
By 31 March 2021, its total liabilities were LKR 443.65 billion, while its total assets were LKR 154.38 billion.
The Mid-Year Fiscal Position Report 2022 by the Ministry of Finance records a loss of LKR 248 billion for the airline from January – April 2022.
That includes an exchange loss of LKR 145 billion in March 2022.
