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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.

7,100 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche Presse-AgenturEconomy & business

Hat Ursula von der Leyen sämtliche Arbeitnehmer in der EU zu einem teilweisen Lohnverzicht aufgefordert, um die angeschlagene Wirtschaft in der Corona-Krise zu unterstützen? Bei Facebook kursiert derzeit ein angeblicher Screenshot eines «Focus»-Artikels über die Forderung der EU-Kommissionspräsidentin.

Publisher’s rating: Der Screenshot ist gefälscht. Eine Suche nach dem Thema auf der Internetseite des «Focus» ergibt keine Ergebnisse. Auf Nachfrage bestätigte die Vertretung der Europäischen Kommission in Deutschland, dass es ein entsprechendes Statement von der Leyens nicht gebe. Laut dem Burda-Verlag, zu dem «Focus» gehört, hat das Magazin nie über das Thema berichtet.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturEconomy & business

In een Facebook-post, getekend door "Nederland in opstand", wordt beweerd dat Nederland "21 miljard #Belastinggeld gratis naar Zuid #Europa" overmaakt, zodat Fransen, Italianen en Spanjaarden "rond hun 60e met #Pensioen kunnen". Als bron wordt de VVD genoemd.

Publisher’s rating: Het is fout dat iemand van gezag bij de VVD dit gezegd heeft. De kwestie van de pensioenleeftijd is complexer dan de post voorspiegelt. De bewering is dus misleidend.

The review examined a Facebook post signed “Nederland in opstand.” It said the Netherlands was transferring €21 billion in taxpayer money to southern Europe so French, Italian and Spanish people could retire around age 60, and attributed the statement to the VVD. The review found that no one authorized to speak for the party had said this: VVD parliamentary press officer Arjen Zegers said that neither a parliamentary spokesperson nor a prominent party member had made such a statement. The review does not establish that the party itself originated the post’s figures or wording. The post appears to refer to EU financial measures agreed in Brussels to help countries badly affected by the COVID-19 crisis. The review describes a multibillion-euro support package spread over several years, but says the Netherlands’ precise net contribution could not yet be stated. Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra’s spokesperson Jaap Oosterveer explained that the eventual cost would depend on which proposed uses of EU support were approved, whether assistance took the form of loans or grants, and future market interest rates. The package was also linked to negotiations over the EU’s multi-year budget. The review also checked the post’s retirement-age comparison against an OECD study published in November 2019 and consulted pension specialist Frank Vandenbroucke of the University of Amsterdam. It reported projected ages, taking planned reforms into account, ranging from 65 in Spain to 74 in Denmark; Italy’s range was 68–71 and France’s was 66. Vandenbroucke cautioned that comparisons must account for early-retirement conditions and reforms already scheduled, not just the current statutory age. The review therefore found the post’s broad claim about retirement around 60 unsupported, while noting that people in France, Italy and Spain do currently stop working earlier than people in the Netherlands.

FACTLYEconomy & business

For the first time in 72 years Indian Rupee is weaker than Bangladeshi Taka

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a viral post claiming that, for the first time in 72 years, the Indian rupee had become weaker than the Bangladeshi taka. Its review reports exchange-rate information for 24 July 2020: one rupee equalled 1.13 taka, so the rupee was still worth more than one taka at that point. To assess the claim’s historical wording, the review describes checking Google’s exchange-rate information and its one-year graph, and consulting XE.com. It says the one-year rate fell from 1.22 taka per rupee on 24 July 2019 to 1.13 on 24 July 2020, but did not fall below one. It also reports that XE.com’s data showed the rupee had not fallen below the taka over the ten-year period examined; the review gives that period’s highest rate as 1.73457 and lowest as 1.09587 taka per rupee. This evidence supports the conclusion that the rupee was not weaker than the taka in the periods and on the date the review says it checked. However, the excerpt describes a ten-year historical check, not a complete examination of all 72 years asserted in the post. Its reported 2020 rate and ten-year range therefore address the claim with evidence for those specified periods, rather than documenting a full 72-year exchange-rate history.

Pagella PoliticaEconomy & business

«La revoca [delle concessioni autostradali ad Autostrade per l’Italia n.d.r.] significherebbe una perdita secca di 20 miliardi»

Publisher’s rating: Nì

Giorgio Mulè, a Forza Italia deputy, said on 14 July that revoking Autostrade per l’Italia’s motorway concessions would mean a net loss of €20 billion. The review explains that this figure reflected one possible calculation under the existing concession agreement, but Mulè presented it without acknowledging a recently enacted change to the rules governing compensation. The statement preceded the government’s agreement with Atlantia, reached during the night of 14–15 July, which was expected to avert revocation. The review traces the €20 billion estimate to articles 9 and 9-bis of the agreement between the state and Autostrade per l’Italia. Those provisions called for compensation based on expected revenues through the concession’s scheduled expiry in 2038, potentially extended to 2042, less specified costs and adjustments. A press-reported estimate made after the Morandi Bridge collapse put the payment at €15–20 billion, potentially reduced by a penalty if serious breach were established. Autostrade itself later claimed €23 billion, according to press reports cited in the review. But a provision in the December 2019 “Milleproroghe” decree changed the calculation when a concession ended because of the concessionaire’s breach. Instead of the agreement’s compensation formula, it provided for reimbursement of the value of completed works and associated costs, less depreciation. Estimates reported by the Sole 24 Ore put that amount at about €7 billion. The review therefore finds Mulè’s figure plausible under the earlier agreement, but misleading as a statement of the only outcome available: the new rule was in force, while its legality remained uncertain. The State Attorney’s Office warned that a court might find it unlawful; in that event, compensation could return to more than €20 billion. That was a possibility, not a certainty.

Pagella PoliticaEconomy & business

«Rimaniamo uno dei Paesi più aperti agli investimenti esteri»

Publisher’s rating: Pinocchio andante

The statement concerned Italy’s openness to foreign investment. On 17 July, Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri defended an agreement involving the government and Atlantia over Autostrade per l’Italia, and argued that Italy remained among the countries most open to foreign investment. The review tested that claim using measures of investment flows and accumulated investment, restrictions on foreign investment, and the ease of doing business. For investment flows, the review reports OECD figures showing that foreign direct investment entering Italy in 2019 was worth $26.6 billion, placing Italy fourteenth among 44 OECD countries. Relative to GDP, that inflow was 1.3 per cent, ranking thirtieth of 44, below the OECD average of 1.7 per cent and the EU average of 2.6 per cent. Looking at accumulated investment, the review says Italy’s 2019 stock was 22 per cent of GDP, the fourth-lowest figure among 26 countries, compared with 46 per cent for the OECD and 59 per cent for the EU. The other indicators provide a qualification, but do not support the superlative. Italy’s 2018 OECD foreign-investment restrictiveness score was 0.052, ranking thirty-first among 69 countries; the review notes that this was more open than some countries, including the United States, but less open than the other major European countries it compares. Separately, the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 ranking placed Italy fifty-eighth among 190 countries and last among G7 members. Taken together, the review’s measures show that Italy was not among the leading countries on investment inflows or accumulated investment, and was not among the most open on the regulatory and business-environment measures examined.

YouturnEconomy & business

எல்லா பெட்ரோல் பங்கிலும் விலை விவரம் இப்படி பிரித்து வெளியிட வேண்டும். Basic Rate : 30.50, Central Govt Tax 16.50, State Govt tax 31.50 , Distributor 6.55, total 85.05. இப்போது மக்களுக்கு யார் யார் விலை உயர்விற்கு காரணம் என புரியும்.

Publisher’s rating: Misleading