Statement

Sri Lanka’s rank in the World Press Freedom Index has moved from 165 to 131

Fact check

Minister Samaraweera is correct: Sri Lanka’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index has increased by 34 places.

In his statement Minister of Finance and Mass Media stated that Sri Lanka’s rank in the World Press Freedom Index has moved from 165 to 131.

In order to assess the accuracy of the claim, we looked at the World Press Freedom Index’s rankings from 2013 to 2018.
Just as the Minister quoted, Sri Lanka’s rank in the index has moved from 165 in 2013 (and 2014) to 131 in 2018.

Thus, we have categorised the Minister’s claim as TRUE.