As Sri Lanka prepares to formulate and implement reforms that will enable economic revival, the Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2022 organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce will explore reforms and its implications during Session 1 of the Summit dedicated to ‘Economic Reforms and Implications’, on December 6.
The session will begin with a fireside chat with the former Finance Minister of Georgia, Aleksi Alexsishvili who will outline Georgia’s economic reform story.
He is widely credited with successfully implementing reforms in public finance, tax and customs policy and administration and deregulation and liberalisation. Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe present Sri Lanka’s plans for economic reform.
The presentations and discussions that will follow will focus on the roadmap to desired fiscal reforms, as well as prioritising reforms within the framework of an economic reform agenda, in addition to the outlook on the debt restructuring process and what a four-year International Monetary Fund program will mean for the private sector.
The session will also explore the role that monetary policy and an independent Central Bank will play in the process, gaps in the current framework, recapitalisation of the banks and strengthening the social safety net to protect the increasing segment of the vulnerable population.
Session panellists will include Chairman, John Keells Holdings and Deputy Vice Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Krishan Balendra and Former Director, Capacity Development, IMF, Dr. Sharmini Cooray.
Dr. Cooray is an economist who was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Group on Multilateral Engagement and Debt Sustainability which was tasked with guiding Sri Lankan institutions and officials on engaging with the IMF to solve Sri Lanka’s debt crisis.
Chief Executive Office, Standard Chartered Bank, Sri Lanka, Bingumal Thewarathanthri will also join the panel discussion with Secretary to the Treasury, Mahinda Siriwardena.
The session will be moderated by Dr. Naveen Gunawardena. The Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2022 (SLES 2022) is due to be held from December 5-6 as a hybrid summit, at the Shangri-La Hotel. The theme for the 22nd Sri Lanka Economic Summit is ‘Resetting from Turmoil to Opportunity’.