Misleading Video of Sunil Hadunneththi's Remarks on Economic Policies

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Discussions and criticisms about the National People’s Power (NPP) have recently proliferated on social media platforms, with varying opinions and perspectives. However, it is essential to note that some of these discussions can be misleading, as misinformation and biased viewpoints often circulate online.

Social Media Posts

Social media posts imply that Sunil Hadunneththi, one of the executive members of the NPP Economic Council, stated that if his party comes to power, it will definitely privatise state enterprises, engage in excessive money printing, and seize banks' depositors' money.

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We decided to do a fact-check on this.

Fact Check

The video circulating on social media has been edited/cropped to misrepresent Sunil Hadunneththi's statements. The original comments were made five months ago during an interview on Neth FM.

At that time, Hadunneththi discussed the government's decision to increase the VAT tax percentage. He explained that Sri Lanka faced an income and expenditure problem, with national expenditure surpassing income.

He said that if the government cannot control expenditures, it has three options to increase income: privatising state-owned enterprises, printing more money, or seizing deposited money from the public. These remarks analysed the current government's potential actions to address the economic crisis, not proposals for future NPP policies.

Furthermore, Handunetti also points out that in an economic crisis such as the one currently faced by the nation, government members will have to sacrifice some or all unnecessary expenditures, such as security expenses, maintenance expenses, etc., and the National People's Force government will carry out such a program in such situations.

Additionally, even the NPP has not yet provided a detailed policy framework outlining its economic strategies, leading to criticism. The SJB economic committee has challenged the NPP to a debate on economic policies. Still, the NPP has consistently responded that the discussion should first occur between the two parties' leaders.

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Conclusion:

The video is misleading. Sunil Hadunneththi's comments were about the current government's potential measures to address economic issues as per NPP's view, not about NPP’s definitive future plans. It is essential to verify the context of political statements before drawing conclusions.