SLEA to stage annual sessions on 21 & 22 Oct.

The Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA) will hold its annual sessions on 21 and 22 October at Hotel Taj Samudra. 

The theme of this year’s annual sessions will be ‘Fiscal Reforms: An Imperative for Sustained Growth’.  The inaugural session on 21 October will be followed by four technical sessions on 22 October.   

10 academic papers on issues falling under four subthemes will be presented at the technical sessions. 

The first session, entitled ‘Present Scenario and the Way Forward’ will feature K.M.M. Siriwardana talking about the ‘Present Fiscal Policy and Status’ and Dr. Priyanga Dunusinghe dissecting the subject ‘Resource Gap and Revenue Mobilisation’. 

Meanwhile, the second session will be on ‘Public Debt and Public Investment’ where Dr. Dushini Weerakon will address the topic ‘Is There a Debt Crisis or Not?’ Prof. Sirimevan Colambage will also examine the ‘Resource Gap and Public Investment’ and Prof. Frank Westermann will tackle ‘Public Debt Sustainability’ during the session. 

For the third session on an ‘Enabling Environment for Investment’, Dr. Shan Fernando will cover the ‘Enabling Environment for the Domestic Private investor’ while Malraj Kiriella will discuss ‘Good Governance for FDI’ and Prof. Deepak Sable-Sonambekar will detail ‘FDI Trends in Asia including Sri Lanka’. 

The fourth and final session on ‘National Polices and Trade Imperatives’ will see Dr. Ravi Ratnayake weigh in on the ‘Strengthening of National Policies’ while Prof. Sunil Chandrasiri will speak on the topic of ‘Enhancing Productivity and Export Competitiveness’. 

Details about the annual sessions and applications for registration can be obtained from the SLEA website or by visiting or calling the SLEA office at the OPA Centre.