Sri Lanka leader targeted by false claim he 'did not attend IMF talks'

"The 'empty chair' excellency. President and finance minister Anura has not attended the meeting with the IMF," read a Sinhala-language Facebook post shared on October 3.

Self-avowed Marxist Dissanayake was sworn into office on September 23, vowing to restore public faith in politics after anger over the island nation's unprecedented economic crisis propelled him to a landslide poll win (archived link).

He succeeded Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office at the peak of Sri Lanka's 2022 financial crisis following the government's first-ever foreign debt default and months of punishing food, fuel and medicine shortages.

The Facebook post shows a photo of Wickremesinghe presiding over an IMF meeting in August 2022, when his government clinched a conditional $2.9-billion bailout package with the agency to repair the nation's battered finances (archived link).

Dissanayake had called for better terms, but after two days of talks with an IMF delegation in Colombo, his government said it would honour his predecessor's deal (archived link).

Next to the photo, a picture of the same meeting room but with an empty presiding chair is shown.

Taking a jibe at Dissanayake, the Facebook post's caption added: "Would love to hear the arguments why Anura skipped the IMF meeting." 

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Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post

The false claim was shared in Facebook groups and accounts with thousands of followers, with comments suggesting Sri Lankans genuinely believed the new president missed the IMF meeting.

"This is like sending a CEO home and giving that work to an office assistant," one wrote.

"Definitely, there is no leadership to make decisions about the country," another said.

Dissanayake has previously been targeted with misinformation since his rise to power, including false claims his prime minister said the new government had no experience running the country and a fabricated doctor's note purporting to show he was diagnosed with depression.

While Dissanayake did not attend a meeting with the IMF on October 2, he met with the delegation on October 3 and 4.

Bailout discussions

The photo of an empty chair was taken at a meeting on October 2 between the IMF and the new Sri Lankan government's economic team at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo (archived link).

The picture was shared in a press release that the President's Media Division shared with news outlets.

The statement did not list Dissanayake among nine government representatives at the talks, which included the chair of the Economic Policy Council and senior advisor to the president on economic affairs and finance.

However, Dissanayake met with the IMF team on subsequent days. He posted photos from meetings on October 3 and October 4 on X, while the President's Media Division published a photo from the latter meeting, calling it the "Second Day of Talks between the President and IMF" (archived here, here and here).

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Photo of Dissanayake attending IMF talks on October 4, published by the President's Media Division

AFP reported on the October 3 meeting, in which Dissanayake urged the IMF to consider "alternative means" to continue with the $2.9 billion bailout that aided his country in the wake of a sovereign default but imposed painful austerity. (archived link).

The IMF confirmed in a statement that its delegation visited Colombo from October 2 to 4 and "held productive discussions with President Dissanayake and Sri Lanka's economic team" (archived link).

A spokesperson for the President's Media Division also told AFP that Dissanayake "met the IMF team as scheduled".