Harsha keynote speaker at Standard Chartered’s Global Research Briefing 2017

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harsha de Silva, MP, will be the keynote speaker of Standard Chartered’s Global Research Briefing 2017 exclusively for the bank’s clients on Tuesday 24 January 2017. MP de Silva commenced his career as the chief economist and treasurer of DFCC Bank and went on to become a successful entrepreneur who co-founded and built what is today the country’s largest market and social research agency; Nielsen Lanka.  

He will undoubtedly set an extremely apt tone for Standard Chartered’s economic researchers Dave Murray (Head, Global Research), David Mann (Chief Economist, Asia), Anubhuti Sahay (Head, South Asia Economic Research), Saurav Anand (Economist, South Asia) and Priya Narain Balchandani (Energy Analyst) who will present their views at the session. 

Harsha de Silva, MP, served as Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs from January-August 2015 and was also the economic affairs spokesperson for the then opposition UNP. After his stake in the company he co-founded, Nielsen Lanka, he consulted with the World Bank, ADB, UNDP and many other multilateral agencies for over 10 years and with the think tank LIRNEasia in more than 20 countries. He was also visiting faculty at the Universities of Sri Jayawardenepura and Moratuwa for a number of years and has published widely on technology and development. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Missouri and has had executive training at MIT. He was a 2011 Eisenhower Fellow.

The Global Research Briefing will focus on a world which has grown accustomed to central banks being the only game in town supporting growth; one in which low interest rates have prevailed for close on eight years. However, the election of Donald Trump as the next US president is changing the global environment, and there are four major shifts to watch for in 2017: from a US-based world order to a multi-polar world, from fact-based politics to ‘post-truth’ politics, from free trade to protectionism, and from monetary easing towards fiscal stimulus. 

Dave Murray, David Mann, Anubhuti Sahay, Saurav Anand and Priya Balchandani

All four economists have visited Sri Lanka on previous occasions and their knowledge of ground realities will ensure meaningful insights into outlook for private-sector investment and trade given the Trump presidency in the US and Asia’s economic linkages to the US which are now weaker than they were a decade ago.