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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.

7,099 published reviews in this topic

Fact CrescendoEconomy & business

Claim: Adani group not acquired Indian Railways

Publisher’s rating: False

The review examined a social-media video of a railway engine carrying an advertisement for an Adani cooking-oil company. A post accompanying the video said an “Adani train” had arrived; the review investigated whether the branding meant that the Adani Group had bought the train. The video was posted by Palani Gunasekaran on December 13, 2020, according to the article. The engine displayed “WR,” indicating Western Railway, as well as the words “Indian Railways.” The review distinguished private advertising from ownership or operation. It reported that the Indian Railways used advertisements on engines to raise revenue, and cited a Financial Express report dated March 4, 2020, which showed an Adani-company advertisement alongside advertisements from other companies. The review said those advertising arrangements were in Vadodara railway division, Gujarat, and reported annual revenue of ₹73.26 lakh and expected revenue of ₹4.4 crore under a five-year contract. The review also cited a statement from the government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB), posted on December 16, 2020. As translated in the article, PIB said the video showed a commercial advertisement intended to improve non-fare revenue, not privatization. Taken together, the evidence described in the review supports its conclusion that the video showed advertising on an Indian Railways engine, not an Adani acquisition of the railway or train.

Pagella PoliticaEconomy & business

«Forse è passata inosservata la nota diffusa dall’Inps sul crollo delle assunzioni nel settore privato: rispetto allo stesso periodo del 2019 il 34 per cento in meno».

Publisher’s rating: Vero

The claim concerns a statement by Italy’s agriculture minister, Teresa Bellanova, that a note from the National Social Security Institute (INPS) reported a 34% fall in private-sector hiring compared with the same period in 2019. The review says Bellanova made the statement in an interview with La Stampa on December 18, but did not specify which period she meant. That missing timeframe matters: the figure is accurate for the first nine months of 2020, not a period left unspecified by the claim itself. [S1: “Il 18 dicembre, la ministra delle Politiche agricole Teresa Bellanova (Italia viva) ha detto in un’intervista a La Stampa che, secondo una nota diffusa dall’Inps, le assunzioni nel settore privato sarebbero crollate del 34 per cento rispetto allo stesso periodo del 2019. La ministra non fornisce il periodo di riferimento, ma il dato è corretto se si guarda ai primi nove mesi del 2020.”] The review identifies the referenced document as the latest report of INPS’s Observatory on Precarious Employment at the time, published on December 17 with data through September. It reports that private employers initiated 3.801 million hires from January through September 2020, 34% fewer than in the corresponding months of 2019. This period-specific comparison is the key evidence supporting the percentage in Bellanova’s statement. [S1: “La nota dell’Inps a cui fa riferimento la ministra è il report più aggiornato dell’Osservatorio sul precariato dell’Inps, pubblicato il 17 dicembre con i dati relativi a settembre. Secondo l’Inps, le assunzioni attivate dai datori di lavoro privati nei primi nove mesi del 2020, da gennaio a settembre, sono state tre milioni e 801 mila, con un calo del 34 per cento rispetto allo stesso periodo del 2019.”] The review also reports variation within those nine months: the decline reached 83% in April, during lockdown, while it was below 20% in July and August as restrictions eased. It attributes the overall decrease to the effects of the Covid-19 emergency on production and consumption. These details clarify that the 34% figure is a cumulative comparison for January–September, rather than a uniform monthly drop. [S1: “Secondo il rapporto Inps, la contrazione delle assunzioni nel privato è stata particolarmente negativa nel mese di aprile (in pieno lockdown) quando la percentuale è arrivata al -83 per cento. Nei mesi estivi, con l’allentamento delle misure restrittive, il calo è stato minore, sotto il 20 per cento a luglio e agosto.”]

Newsmeter NetworkEconomy & business

Indian Railways has been taken over by Adani group

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examines a social-media video of a train carrying an Adani Wilmar Fortune Atta advertisement. The accompanying claim said Indian Railways had been taken over by the Adani Group, but the video described in the review shows branding on a locomotive, not evidence of a transfer of ownership or control of the railway system. To investigate, NewsMeter reports checking for official statements and examining markings visible in the video: “WR,” “WAP-7,” “BRC” and “30502.” It identifies “WR” as Western Railways and the other markings as the locomotive’s class and number; the locomotive was based at the Vadodara shed, whose station code is BRC. The review also says Adani Wilmar had issued a press release about Adani- and Fortune-branded locomotive engines being flagged off at Vadodara. Those details support an advertising explanation for the footage, rather than the claimed takeover. The review adds that locomotive branding is a form of railway advertising and cites a Financial Express report on revenue from it. It also reports that PIB Fact Check characterized the video’s claim as misleading and described the branding as a commercial advertisement intended to improve non-fare revenue. Taken together, the evidence presented concerns an advertisement on a railway locomotive; it does not establish that Indian Railways was taken over.

Pagella PoliticaEconomy & business

«I contributi [europei] a fondo perduto sono stati concessi per tre ragioni: popolazione, divario di prodotto interno lordo e tasso di disoccupazione. Cioè 65 miliardi sono stati decisi per la aree svantaggiate d’Europa e quindi di Italia. E quindi il governo non può dire diamo il 34 per cento al Sud e il 66 per cento al Nord» (min. 00:57:26)

Publisher’s rating: C'eri quasi

Pagella Politica examined Vincenzo De Luca’s remarks on *Che tempo che fa* about the EU recovery grants and the proposed division of Italian recovery-plan resources between the South and North. The review says the €65 billion figure was an estimate of Italy’s grants, distinct from the roughly €128 billion in loans included in the government’s estimate of Italy’s total allocation. It also found that De Luca substantially correctly named the criteria used to distribute grants among member states, while simplifying how those criteria applied over time. The review describes the European Council’s allocation framework: 70 percent of the grants was to be committed in 2021 and 2022 using population, a measure based on the inverse of GDP per capita, and average unemployment over the preceding five years relative to the European average for 2015–2019. The remaining 30 percent, to be distributed in 2023, was instead tied to real GDP losses in 2020 and the cumulative GDP decline in 2020–2021. Thus, the three criteria De Luca cited were relevant, but did not describe the full allocation method for all grants. The review also distinguishes the factual claims from De Luca’s political judgment. It says the grants were not objectively designed only for disadvantaged areas: the stated purpose was to support member-state economies and address the pandemic’s effects across national territories. Separately, the review says the 34 percent South figure was the share proposed in a draft Italian recovery plan, and that it complied with the rule requiring central administrations to direct at least a population-proportionate share of public spending to the South. Whether that division was unfair was, the review concludes, a political assessment rather than an objective finding.

Pagella PoliticaEconomy & business

«Nel Recovery Plan solo 3,1 miliardi di euro per il turismo, a fronte dei 196 complessivi, per uno dei settori trainanti della nostra economia, capace da solo di garantire il 13 per cento del Pil».

Publisher’s rating: C'eri quasi

The claim concerned two parts of a statement by Lega senator Gian Marco Centinaio: that, out of roughly €196 billion in Recovery Plan funds, only €3 billion was allocated to culture and tourism, and that tourism alone accounted for 13 percent of Italy’s GDP. The review says Centinaio posted the claim on Facebook on December 9, alongside an image quoting him on tourism’s economic contribution. It assessed the funding figure against a leaked draft of Italy’s recovery plan, updated December 6, 2020, and compared the GDP figure with estimates attributed to Istat and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). On funding, the draft allocated €48.7 billion to the broader mission covering digitalization, innovation, competitiveness and culture. Within that mission, the “culture and tourism” component received €3.1 billion. The review therefore found the quoted allocation broadly accurate, while noting that tourism shared the component with culture. It also put the headline total in context: the plan described about €193 billion from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, while then-current unofficial estimates put that figure at about €196 billion. The GDP comparison turns on what is being measured. The review reports that Istat’s estimate, based on 2017 data, put tourism’s direct contribution at 6 percent of national GDP. WTTC’s 13 percent figure for 2017 instead covered the sector’s total impact, including indirect effects from supplies of goods and services and induced effects from workers’ spending. Thus, the 13 percent figure had a basis as an estimate of tourism’s overall economic impact, but it did not support describing that amount as tourism’s contribution “alone.”