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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Economy & business fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about economy & business. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

7,093 published reviews in this topic

Factcrescendo Sri LankaEconomy & business

China Is Not Ready To Amortize SL’s Outstanding Debt!(letter)

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerns a social-media letter presented as the Chinese Embassy in Colombo’s response to Sri Lanka’s debt crisis. It purportedly told President Ranil Wickremesinghe that China could not amortize Sri Lanka’s outstanding debt, but would offer a five-year moratorium. The review says that the letter circulated while Sri Lanka was seeking an IMF bailout, for which support from major lenders was relevant. To investigate, Factcrescendo says it looked for reports of the stated Chinese position in international and local media, checked Chinese government and diplomatic communications, and contacted the Chinese Embassy in Colombo on January 24. The embassy spokesperson, Luo Chong, described the letter as forged and containing fabricated details. The embassy also issued a public statement rejecting the letter, saying its letterhead had been misused, and advising the public to use official information channels. The review reports additional rejection from Sri Lanka’s President’s Media Division, which called the letter fake, and says the Criminal Investigation Department opened a probe into its spread. It distinguishes the viral document from a separate development: Reuters had reported that China’s state-owned ExIm Bank sent Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry a letter on January 19 promising a two-year debt moratorium. The review notes that this other letter had not been published by media or diplomats; it does not present it as the viral five-year-moratorium letter. The evidence described in the review therefore supports its conclusion that the circulating letter was forged, rather than an authentic statement of China’s position.

dpaEconomy & business

Fleisch verschwindet bei Lidl aus dem Sortiment.

Publisher’s rating: Es handelt sich um die irreführende Überschrift eines Blogeintrags. Ein Lidl-Manager hat lediglich angekündigt, verstärkt auf Lebensmittel mit pflanzlichen Proteinen zu setzen. Der Anteil von Fleisch im Lidl-Sortiment wird möglicherweise sinken. Das Unternehmen betont auf Nachfrage aber, dass es weiter Fleischprodukte anbieten werde.

The claim that meat was disappearing from Lidl’s range came from screenshots circulating on Facebook of a Report24 headline. The headline said “meat is disappearing from the assortment,” but the review found that this wording overstated what the article itself established: the Report24 text described a gradual replacement of some animal products with plant-based products and said it was unclear how many animal products might ultimately remain. The review says that this did not support the categorical headline. The underlying issue was a Lidl plan to increase plant-based protein offerings, not an announcement that the retailer would stop selling meat. Reports followed remarks by Lidl’s chief buyer at the Green Week in Berlin in late January. The review cites reporting that the meat share would need to decline, while also noting that Lidl had not given concrete target figures for its “planetary” project. The stated timeline was to increase the share of plant-based proteins continuously by 2025. To check whether meat would in fact be withdrawn, the review reports that dpa asked Lidl directly. Lidl replied that it would continue to offer a broad range of meat products so customers could choose. The review also notes Lidl’s January 10 announcement of plans to offer more plant-based protein sources by 2025, and says that announcement did not indicate a complete move away from meat. Taken together, the evidence supports a possible reduction in meat’s share of the assortment, not the claim that meat would disappear.