Prominent economist Dr. Jim Walker to speak at Asia Securities Investment Conference

Macroeconomist and internationally renowned emerging markets investment expert Dr. Jim Walker will be in Colombo to deliver the keynote address at the 3rd Annual Sri Lanka Investment Conference, hosted by Asia Securities, next week. 

Dr. Walker is the Founder and Chief Economist of Asianomics Group, and the Chief Economist at Aletheia Capital. Prior to establishing Asianomics, Dr. Walker was the Chief Economist at CLSA Asia Pacific Markets from 1991 to 2007. Dr. Walker holds a Doctorate and a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Economics from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.  

Dr. Walker gained wide recognition for predicting the Asian currency crisis of the late 1990s. In 1995, based on his research, he published that Asia would be forced off its de-facto Dollar peg within two-to-three years. In July 1997, the Asia crisis started unfolding, triggered by the devaluation of the Thai Baht. In 2007, he wrote a series of reports titled “Apocalypse” which forecasted the US downturn and financial sector woes, while also turning ‘overweight’ on China. His publication titled “China: The Bull Among Us” in December 2016, was the first time in ten years a strong conviction call was made on China’s growing prospects. All these calls unfolded as predicted by Dr. Walker.

Asia Securities Chairman Dumith Fernando said: “The opportunity to bring the wisdom and experience of an expert of Dr. Walker’s calibre to the Sri Lankan market is a privilege. It is consistent with Asia Securities’ goal of bringing unique ideas and global insights to our clients.”

Dr. Walker’s keynote at Asia Securities’ investment conference is titled “Global Growth and Geopolitics – More Pain or Progress?” and will discuss how global macro-political currents are moving at this juncture, and its impact on regional economies. The keynote will draw on Dr. Walker’s decades of experience in covering the Asian markets and will be especially important in the context of the current changes in Sri Lanka’s political economy. Dr. Walker will also participate in a panel discussion of investment experts on the investment outlook in 2020.