Two appointed members step down from Monetary Board

• Move follows Govt. requesting resignation to reconstitute Central Bank governing body 

Two members of the Monetary Board, Nihal Fonseka and Dr. Dushni Weerakoon, appointed during the previous regime, have tendered their resignation with effect from 31 May 2020.

Nihal Fonseka

Dr. Dushni Weerakoon

This is to enable the reconstitution of the Monetary Board on the request of the Government. 

The President is the appointing authority of the members to the Monetary Board, on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance.

In February, Sanjeeva Jayawardena, President's Counsel, was appointed to the Monetary Board following the vacancy created by the resignation of Chrisantha Perera. 

Chairman of the Monetary Board is Central Bank Governor Prof. W.D. Lakshman, and the other member is Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle.

The new appointees will be serving the remainder of the period of those whom they are replacing. The term of office of the Governor and the non-executive Board members is six years; they cannot be removed, but can resign. As the governing body, the Monetary Board is responsible for making all policy decisions related to the management, operation and administration of the Central Bank.

Ex-banker Fonseka was appointed to the Monetary Board in July 2016, whilst Dr. Weerakoon who is the Executive Director of Institute of Policy Studies, was appointed in July 2019.

A Banker by profession, Fonseka has held several key positions in the local and international banking sectors. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the DFCC Bank for over 13 years and prior to that was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Sri Lanka for 10 years. He has also served as the Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and Pacific, Manila and also as a director of Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, and DFCC Vardhana Bank PLC.

Fonseka was a member of the 2009 Presidential Commission on Taxation and until recently was a Member of the National Procurement Commission established under the Constitution. 

Fonseka obtained his BSc Degree from the University of Ceylon, Colombo and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, UK and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments, UK. He was a Director and Chairman of the Group Audit Committee of John Keells Holdings PLC, President of the Sri Lanka National Council of the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investments and a Member of the US-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission.

Fonseka has authored many articles and made many presentations at seminars and conferences locally and internationally.

Dr. Weerakoon joined the IPS in 1994 on completing her PhD, and has written and published widely on macroeconomic policy, regional trade integration and international economics.

She has extensive experience in public policy engagement and currently serves on the Trade and Productivity Commission (2019 -), Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade; and has served on the Committee of Experts to Formulate the National Sustainable Development Vision of Sri Lanka: 2030, Presidential Secretariat (2017-18); Committee on Trade Policy Formulation, Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade (2016); Trade and Tariff Committee, Ministry of Finance (2004-10); Committee of Experts to negotiate the South Asian Free Trade Agreement, Ministry of Trade and Commerce (2004-05); and Macro and Trade Policy Steering Committee, Ministry of Policy Development and Implementation (2002-04), amongst others.

She has worked as a consultant to international organisations such as the ADB, World Bank, UN-ESCAP, UNDP and ILO, and served as a resource person on the Asia-Pacific Regional Trade Policy Course conducted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and University of Hong Kong (2003-06). She serves currently as a Series Editor for the South Asia Economic and Policy Studies for Springer publications, Editors-in-Chief of the South Asia Economic Journal, Editorial Board of the Journal of South Asian Development, and as Editor of the IPS’ annual flagship report ‘Sri Lanka: State of the Economy’.

She has experience as a director on the boards of corporate and academic entities, including as an Independent Non-Executive Director at the Nations Trust Bank (2007-2016), Cargills Bank (2018-2019), and as a Director at the Centre for Poverty Analysis (2008-2014), Gamani Corea Foundation (2018 -), and Social Policy Analysis and Research Centre (SPARC) of the University of Colombo (2018 -).

Dr. Weerakoon holds a BSc in Economics with First Class Honours from the Queen’s University of Belfast, U.K., and an MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Manchester, U.K. She is a recipient of the Arts Faculty Scholarship from the University of Colombo, the McKane Medal and Scholarship from the Queen’s University of Belfast, a Postgraduate Scholarship from the University of Manchester, an Overseas Research Scholarship from the Government of the UK, and the Drummond Frazer Research Studentship from the University of Manchester.