Deshamanya Indrajit Coomaraswamy ( Tamil: இந்திரஜித் குமாரசுவாமி, Sinhala: ඉන්ද්‍රජිත් කුමාරස්වාමි; born 3 April 1950) is a Sri Lankan economist. He served as the 14th Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. ^{[1] [2]}

Early life and family

Coomaraswamy was born on 3 April 1950 in Colombo, Ceylon. ^{[3] [4]} He was the son of civil servant Rajendra Coomaraswamy (Roving Raju) and Wijeyamani. ^{[5] [6] [7]} His paternal grandfather C. Coomaraswamy was a civil servant and his maternal grandfather S. K. Wijeyaratnam was chairman of Negombo Urban Council. ^{[5] [7] [8]} He has one sister, Radhika. ^{[5] [6]} Coomaraswamy was educated at Royal College, Colombo and at Harrow School in England. ^{[7] [9] [10]} He was captain of Royal's primary cricket team. ^[8] He was captain of Harrow's cricket team from 1967 to 1968 and also played rugby for the school for three years. ^{[4] [11]}

After school he went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, from where he received BA ( Hons) and MA degrees. ^{[7] [9] [12]} He played two matches of first-class cricket for Cambridge University Cricket Club, one in 1971 and one in 1972. ^{[3] [13]} He then proceeded to the University of Sussex from where he obtained a DPhil degree. ^{[7] [9] [12]}

Coomaraswamy is married to Tara de Fonseka. ^[13] They have two sons – Imran and Arjun. ^[13] Coomaraswamy is a Sri Lankan Tamil.

Career

Coomaraswamy joined the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 1973, working as a staff officer in its Economic Research, Statistics and Bank Supervision divisions until 1989. ^{[7] [9] [13] [14]} He was seconded to the Ministry of Finance and Planning between 1981 and 1989 to provide advice on macroeconomic issues and structural reforms. ^{[7] [9] [13] [14] [15]} He worked at the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1990 to 2008, holding various posts including Chief Officer, Economics in the International Finance and Markets Section; Director of the Economic Affairs Division; and Deputy-Director of the Secretary-General's Office. ^{[7] [9] [13] [14]} He was an advisor to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Project Minister of Economic Reforms, Science and Technology Milinda Moragoda between 2001 and 2002. ^[15]

Coomaraswamy rejoined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2010 as Interim Director of its Social Transformation Programme Division. ^{[7] [9] [13] [14]} He was special advisor to the controversial Galleon Group hedge fund. ^[14] He was director of a British company called Galleon Research Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Galleon International Management LLC. ^{[16] [17]} He was appointed as a non-executive director of John Keells Holdings PLC in February 2011. ^{[13] [18]} He was appointed as a director of Tokyo Cement Group in March 2011. ^{[13] [15] [19]} He worked briefly for Hatton National Bank and was a director of SEEDS (Guarantee) Limited. ^{[12] [15] [20]} He was a member of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura's Board of Study (Public Administration) and a director of Nawaloka College of Higher Studies. ^{[21] [22]} He was later a senior advisor to Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama. ^{[23] [24]}

Coomaraswamy was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in July 2016, replacing Arjuna Mahendran whose tenure was mired by allegations of corruption. ^{[10] [25] [26]} He resigned from the position in December 2019. ^[27]

Sports career

Coomaraswamy played rugby for Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club and captained the national team in the 1974 Rugby Asiad. ^{[8] [11] [13]} He also played cricket for the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club. ^{[8] [11] [13]}

References