Data defends MP Wickramaratne on defence budget

Fact Check

During the Budget 2024 debates, MP Wickramaratne made three claims in relation to the budget allocations for defence. They are: (1) budget allocation for the Ministry of Defence (MoD)is high, at 7% of the total budget in 2022; (2) of which, 60% of the expenditure is used to pay wages; and (3) Sri Lanka has one of the highest soldiers to citizen ratios in the world (top 10).

To evaluate the MP’s claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the 2023 Budget Estimates and data from the World Bank.

Claim 1: Government expenditure on the MoD was 7.97% of total expenditure in 2022; and the allocation for 2023 was 7% of the total budget (Exhibit 1).

Claim 2: Expenditure on personnel emoluments, including salaries and wages, overtime, and allowances, amounted to 69.8% of the total expenditure of the MoD in 2022, and the allocation for 2023 was 62.9% (Exhibit 1).

The MP seems to have cited the approximate expenditure figures for 2023 instead of 2022, as he stated. The expenditure figures for 2022 were even higher, supporting his overall claims on expenditure.

Claim 3: The colloquial term “soldiers” was interpreted by FactCheck.lk as “armed forces personnel”. The latest available global data from the World Bank on armed forces personnel is for 2020. Calculations from that data show that Sri Lanka had 1.45 armed forces personnel per 100 citizens in 2020, which was the 9^th highest in the world (Exhibit 2).

The data supports all three claims of the MP that (a) a high percentage of the budget is spent on defence, (b) a high percentage of that expenditure goes towards salaries and wages; and (c) Sri Lanka’s armed forces personnel per capita is among the 10 highest in the world.

Therefore, we classify his statement as TRUE.

Exhibit 1: Government expenditure on Ministry of Defense (2022 and 2023)

Exhibit 2: Armed forces personnel (2020)