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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.

7,103 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche Presse-AgenturEconomy & business

Auf einem Sharepic werden mehrere Milliardenbeträge aufgelistet, die den Staatshaushalt belasten sollen. So heißt es, 2017 habe Deutschland 4 Milliarden Euro an Flüchtlinge gezahlt, während Deutsche im selben Jahr 13 Milliarden Euro an Steuern hinterzogen hätten. Durch Cum-Ex-Geschäfte sei ein Schaden von 55 Milliarden Euro entstanden, «Steuerschlupflöcher für Konzerne und Superreiche» würden 160 Milliarden Euro jährlich kosten. Angaben zu Quellen gibt es keine.

Publisher’s rating: Die Beträge sind teils nicht korrekt und haben unterschiedliche Bezugsgrößen.

The sharepic compares four large sums as though they were comparable costs to Germany: spending on refugees in 2017, tax evasion, losses from Cum-Ex transactions and annual tax revenue lost through corporate and wealthy taxpayers’ tax avoidance. The dpa review examines the figures and their stated time periods and geographic scope, and notes that the post gives no sources. Its account distinguishes figures that roughly match a narrower measure from totals that include additional spending or refer to broader estimates. For 2017, the review says the federal government provided about €3.7 billion in social benefits to refugees after their asylum procedures had concluded. But that figure did not cover all refugee-related spending: the federal government also spent about €1 billion on reception, registration and accommodation during procedures, and supported states and municipalities with about €6.6 billion for refugee and integration costs. A further roughly €2.6 billion went to integration services, though the review says the portion going to refugees alone cannot be determined. Thus, the €4 billion figure is close to one limited category, not total spending. The review traces the other figures to estimates in an MSN slideshow. The €55 billion Cum-Ex estimate was for Germany and at least ten other European countries, not Germany alone; the review contrasts it with an estimate of at least €31.8 billion in lost German tax revenue from 2001 to 2016. The €13 billion tax-evasion figure appears to refer to Friedrich Schneider’s estimates for Germany in 2012 and 2013, not 2017. The €160 billion figure combines that tax-evasion estimate with legal and semi-legal tax-avoidance practices, so presenting €13 billion and €160 billion as separate losses is misleading.

Fact CrescendoEconomy & business

Claim: Israel manufacturing Marlboro cigarette

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post examined by Fact Crescendo claimed that Israel produces Marlboro cigarettes and, paradoxically, has banned cigarette sales. The review also described other health and smoking-related assertions in the post, but its investigation of the manufacturing claim focused on where Marlboro is produced and how it reaches the Israeli market. The review says it searched online for information about Marlboro’s manufacturing location and identified Philip Morris USA as the company producing the brand in the United States. It then examined whether the company’s operators had an Israeli connection, tracing Philip Morris’s origins to a German-born founder who ran a cigarette shop in London, and noting the company’s entry into the United States in 1902 and Marlboro’s introduction in 1924. Those details do not support the claim that Israel is the manufacturing country. For Israel specifically, the review says Philip Morris Limited had imported Marlboro from the United States and sold it in Israel since 1957. It reports that the company’s website described its Tel Aviv operation and workforce, but did not identify a factory there. The review therefore distinguishes selling or importing Marlboro in Israel from manufacturing it there, and concludes that the post’s claim about Israeli production was false.

NewtralEconomy & business

Seguimos liderando ese crecimiento económico

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerned Spain’s position among EU countries for economic growth, in the setting of a European Commission forecast update. Pedro Sánchez said that, after the Commission raised Spain’s growth forecast, “we continue to lead” economic growth. The review checked whether Spain was in fact forecast to grow faster than the other EU countries—not merely whether its own forecast had increased. [S1: “La Comisión ha elevado las previsiones de crecimiento económico para España, seguimos liderando ese crecimiento”. Así lo ha asegurado en Los Desayunos de TVE.]

FACTLYEconomy & business

The kitchen of Amritsar Gurudwara has to bear the burden of Rs. 10 crore GST annually, the products of Ramdev Baba are exempted from the GST.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post claimed that the kitchen of the Golden Temple in Amritsar continued to bear an annual GST burden of Rs. 10 crore while Ramdev Baba’s products were exempt. The review distinguishes the old figure from the situation at the time it examined: it says the Rs. 10 crore burden was reported in 2017, when the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) sought GST relief for langar meals, and was not a current annual burden as the post implied. The review describes checking earlier news reports about the Golden Temple kitchen. It recounts that the SGPC said it had paid Rs. 2 crore in GST for July 2017 through January 2018; Punjab’s state government later said it would waive its half of the GST on langar items; and the central government agreed to refund GST on those items through the Seva Bhoj Yojana. The review also reports a central-government refund of Rs. 57 lakh for langars in June 2019. These details show that the langar had received exemptions and refunds, though the review does not say that every GST cost had been eliminated. On Patanjali, the review says the products were not exempt from GST: it reports a 12% rate on Ayurveda products and varying rates on other commercial products. Taken together, the evidence addresses both parts of the post: the Golden Temple’s langar had received relief rather than continuing to carry the claimed old burden, and Patanjali products were not GST-exempt.

RMIT ABC Fact CheckEconomy & business

"And that includes thermal coal exports. We know there are 54,000 people employed in that industry..."

Publisher’s rating: Doesn't check out

The claim was made by National Party Deputy Leader Bridget McKenzie in an RN Breakfast interview while discussing prospects for developing the Galilee Basin and the jobs associated with thermal-coal exports. She said 54,000 people were employed in the thermal coal mining industry. The review tested that specific employment figure against Australian employment data, while noting that the wider political discussion concerned the proposed Adani Carmichael mine and Galilee Basin development. The review compared two ABS sources. The Labour Force Survey showed an average of 52,600 people employed in coal mining overall in the four quarters to February 2019. The ABS Labour Account showed around 38,100 in coal mining overall for 2017–18 and was identified by the ABS as the better source for industry employment. Neither figure isolates thermal coal: both include employment in other kinds of coal mining as well. That distinction is decisive. McKenzie’s spokesman said the 54,000 figure came from Labour Force Survey data covering coal mining overall, not thermal coal alone. The review found no definitive count for thermal-coal employment and no data supporting 54,000 people employed specifically in that sector. It also describes estimates derived by matching mines to employee data—around 29,000 using Labour Force Survey figures and a rough estimate closer to 21,000 using Labour Account figures—but cautions that some mines produce both thermal and metallurgical coal. These are estimates, not a definitive sector-specific headcount.