President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy as the Governor of Central Bank, President’s Media Division announced
Coomaraswamy, a former central banker and economic affairs director at the Commonwealth Secretariat, was picked after “consulting all parties relevant”, President Maithripala Sirisena said on Twitter.
A tweet by President Maithripala Sirisena also stated as follows – “After consulting all parties relevant, I appointed top economist Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy to head the Central Bank if Sri Lanka”.
Dharmasiri Ekanayake, media spokesperson at the President’s Office, told media on Saturday that the new Governor will assume duties on Monday, July 4.
The new governor will probably be in office for a year, following which the government will “reconsider,” junior Finance Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena has earlier said on June 29.
Dr. Coomaraswamy’s predecessor Arjuna Mahendran’s turbulent 17-month period as Governor ended on Thursday June 30th evening while his replacement was caught up in differences of opinion between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Mahendran, a former HSBC Holdings Plc wealth manager, had said he wouldn’t seek an extension until cleared of allegations of nepotism. The government’s failure to name his successor before the end of June left the central bank governor-less for the first time in its 66-year history.
The President’s nominee was Deputy Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe while the PM was pushing for former Treasury Secretary Charitha Ratwatte as a stop-gap appointment in case Mahendran was cleared in a parliamentary probe on tainted bond issues and eligible for a second term.
Mahendran has been embroiled in controversy from the month (February 2015) he took over to complete the remainder of Ajit Nivard Cabraal’s term of office after the latter resigned following President Mahinda Rajapaksa shock defeat at presidential polls in January 2015.A bond issue in February drew allegations that Perpetual Treasuries, a firm owned by the family of Mahendran’s son in law, Arjun Aloysius, secured undue advantage in that deal.
Mahendran has faced allegations that his son-in-law — head of a local brokerage — benefited unduly from sovereign bond sales. He was also accused of lavish personal spending on his official expense account. A government panel probing the debt auctions last year found no involvement by Mahendran and the central bank rejected allegations that he misused public funds.
However some analysts — such as Sasha Riser-Kositsky at Eurasia Group — say Mahendran was caught between three-way tensions within factions of Sirisena’s party and its coalition partner.
The new 66-year old Governor is a widely respected economist, scholed at Royal College and Britain Harrow College before starting off in the Central Bank, moving to the Ministry of Finance and ending a distinguished career after a long spell as Director Economic Affairs at the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat.. He was also appointed pro-tem head of the proposed Agency for International Development a position he would have to relinquish with his entry as Central Bank Governor
The incoming Central bank Governor will have to navigate the central bank through a $1.5 billion program from the International Monetary Fund. While some conditions of the loan have been termed “ambitious” by Moody’s, investors have cheered the development, boosting the rupee about 2.5 percent from its record low hit in March.
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Indrajit Coomaraswamy – born April 3, 1950 – is a Sri Lankan economist. He was the former Director Economic Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Educated at the Royal College, Colombo and at Harrow School in England, he gained his undergraduate degree at Cambridge University and obtained his Doctorate at the University of Sussex.
Joining the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 1973 he served in the Economic Research, Statistics and Bank Supervision Divisions as a staff officer till 1989. From 1981 to 1989 he was seconded to the Ministry of Finance and Planning.
Thereafter Coomaraswamy worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1990–2008, holding the posts of Director, Economic Affairs Division and Deputy-Director, Secretary-General’s Office and was brought back to the Commonwealth Secretariat to head the Social Transformation Programme Division, as Interim Director.
Indrajit played first-class cricket in 1971 and 1972 for the Cambridge University team. He also played Rugby for Cambridge University, and later captained Sri Lanka in Rugby in the 1974 Asiad.
Indrajit Coomaraswamy has been appointed as the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka with effect from July 2nd 2016 and will assume duties on Monday July 4th 2016.