Central Bank holds its 12th International Research Conference

Front row from left: Economic Research Additional Director Dr. P.K.G. Harischandra; Prof. Sirimal Abeyratne (University of Colombo); Deputy Governor H.A. Karunaratne; Honorary Director General and Banque de France former Chief Economist Marc-Olivier Strauss-Kahn; Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy; Keio University Professor, Asian Development Bank Institute Visiting Scholar and Bank of Japan Policy Board former Member Prof. Sayuri Shirai; Assistant Governor K.M.M. Siriwardana and Economic Research Director Dr. Chandranath Amarasekara. Back row from left: K.K.C. Sineth Kannangara (Central Bank of Sri Lanka), Dr. Sujeetha Jegajeevan (Central Bank of Sri Lanka), Mayandy Kesavarajah (Central Bank of Sri Lanka), W.S. Navin Perera (Central Bank of Sri Lanka), Dr. Abhinav Narayanan (Reserve Bank of India), Dr. Serhan Cevik (International Monetary Fund), Dr. Sam Hak Kan Tang (University of Western Australia), Long Hai Vo (University of Western Australia), Thilini Sumudu Kumari (Central Bank of Sri Lanka) and Dr. Sargam Gupta (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, India)

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka held its annual flagship event, the 12th International Research Conference at the John Exter International Conference Hall of the Central Bank on 9 December. 

The Conference was aimed at stimulating theoretical and empirical research on various contemporary macroeconomic policy issues and provided researchers from diverse backgrounds a platform to discuss their views, findings and experiences from varied perspectives.

Delivering the inaugural address, Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy highlighted the various global and domestic challenges faced by central banks and policymakers around the world and the need to adapt to these developments to ensure greater macroeconomic and financial stability. 

He also highlighted the macroeconomic challenges faced by Sri Lanka and emphasised the necessity for continuous research to assist policymakers in the formulation of conducive macroeconomic policies in a timely manner.

This year’s Conference was graced by the presence of two eminent international economists – Keio University Professor, Asian Development Bank Institute Visiting Scholar and Bank of Japan Policy Board former Member Prof. Sayuri Shirai, and Honorary Director General and Banque de France former Chief Economist Marc-Olivier Strauss-Kahn. 

Addressing the gathering, Prof. Sayuri Shirai highlighted the issues related to the international finance trilemma in emerging economies and low inflation and new monetary policy frameworks in advanced economies in her speech titled ‘Recent Monetary Policy Issues and Challenges’. 

Marc-Olivier Strauss-Kahn, in his speech titled ‘Central Banking: from Research to Economic/Financial Literacy’, highlighted the role of central banks in promoting research and economic and financial literacy and shared the experience of Banque de France.

This was followed by two technical sessions, chaired by Central Bank Assistant Governors K.M.M. Siriwardana and T.M.J.Y.P. Fernando. Seven research papers on contemporary topics such as monetary policy, public investment, productivity and taxation, inter alia, selected through a rigorous double-blind review process, were presented by researchers from the US, Australia, India and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. 

The Dr. D.S. Wijesinghe Memorial Award for the Best Research Paper was awarded to Mayandy Kesavarajah of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka for the paper titled ‘Monetary Policy and Inflation-Output Variability in Developing Economies: Lessons from Sri Lanka’.