Dr. M. R. P. (Ranji) Salgado, who passed away in Washington, was one of Sri Lanka’s outstanding economists. Economics as a profession was largely unknown prior to the 1950s. It was with the setting up of the Central Bank in 1950 that the economics profession really started in Sri Lanka.
Ranji belonged to that early generation of economists. He was one of the most technically accomplished economists of his time, having excelled in mathematics and economics. The subject of economics was about to change towards a more mathematical direction, and Ranji was ideally trained to cope with the newly emerging discipline. He was the first mathematical economist of Sri Lanka. Ranji was one of those persons who could straddle the worlds of science, arts and the humanities.
His fascinating career of 40 years ranged across the Central Bank, Government, Universities, and the IMF.
Ranji had his early education at Royal College, where he was one of its most brilliant products of any generation. He carried away so many prizes and scholarships.
Chosen as the Governor’s Scholar, he won the Rajapakse Prize, the Turnour Scholarship, C. M. Fernando Memorial Prize, the Steward Prize, Makeen Memorial Prize, Senior English Literature Prize and Senior English Essay Prize, and many others. From the beginning, Ranji excelled in English. Entering the University of Ceylon, he carried away the Muncherji Framji Khan Prize for best performance in the First in Arts Examination.
He followed this up with a First Class Honours degree in Mathematics.
Ranji’s versatility across many academic subjects is clearly evident from these early school days.
Ranji joined the Central Bank in 1952, and prior to that he was a visiting lecturer in Mathematics at the University. Having joined the Bank, he served in many capacities in his 14 years there. While in the Bank, he proceeded to Cambridge to read for the Economics Tripos (a first degree in Cambridge jargon). Ranji obtained an Upper Second, having done it in two years instead of three.
He was one of the very few Sri Lankan economists, if any, to have read for two first degrees, in Mathematics and Economics. After a break, he worked for a PhD in Economics at Cambridge, which he obtained in 1960.
He was the first Sri Lankan to obtain a PhD from Cambridge in economics. Cambridge in the 1950s was the pre-eminent university for Economics in the world. Keynes had died a few years earlier, but he left a strong legacy of outstanding scholarship and many renowned economists Joan Robinson, Richard Kahn, Austin Robinson, Maurice Dobb, James Meade and Richard Stone were among those who adorned the Cambridge economics faculty at the time. This was a fascinating period to read economics at Cambridge. Two of Ranji’s contemporary post-graduate students at Cambridge were Amartya Sen and Mahbub Ul Haq.
Amartya Sen was later to become Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and to win the Nobel Prize in Economics. He is arguably the leading economist in the world today. Ranji continued his association and friendship with him. Ranji’s supervisor at Cambridge was Richard Stone, another Nobel Prize winner, and the world authority on National Accounts who created the system of National Accounts for the entire world through the United Nations. Ranji’s thesis was on the National Accounts of Ceylon. At that time Sri Lanka had no National Accounts, and Ranji was the first to compile a system of national accounts beginning in 1920. A system of National Accounts is a basic tool for national economic planning.
During his days with the Central Bank, he was much sought after by other organisations. He worked as Economic Advisor, on secondment from the Bank, to the Ministry of Industries, Ministry of Agriculture, and the Department of National Planning, gaining valuable insights into the workings of government.
He was also a visiting lecturer in Economics at the newly created Vidyodaya University from 1960-6. He was an excellent lecturer in macro-economics and assisted in building up the economics faculty in this new university.
He left the Central Bank in 1966 to join the IMF in Washington. However, in 1970-1, he came to the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs as Additional Secretary for a brief spell. He came at the request of the Prime Minister, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike. In the Planning Ministry he made an important contribution to the development of economic policy.
I remember one of the papers he wrote to the Cabinet Planning Committee on Sri Lankan economic policy, where he advocated greater liberalisation of the economy. He was writing against the grain of the politics of that time. What he said in that paper is what happened from 1977 onwards.
Ranji had a wide-ranging career in the IMF for over twenty years. He worked in the South Asia division, the West Asia division, the South Pacific division in various capacities, holding senior positions as Senior Economist in the Asian Department and chief of many divisions, including functioning as Assistant Director.
One of his interesting assignments was as Resident Representative of the IMF in South Korea in the late 1960s, at a time when the IMF was playing a critical role in the management of the South Korean economy, and making the transition to be one of Asia’s developed economies. Ranji was highly regarded by the South Korean government for the contribution he made at the time.
Having retired from the IMF in 1988, Ranji had one more important public function to perform. He was appointed to head the Presidential Commission on Banking and Finance in Sri Lanka. He was the ideal choice for this undertaking.
Between 1991-3, he functioned in an honorary capacity and produced a most illuminating report on the banking and financial system in Sri Lanka. The report made a series of far-reaching recommendations to reform the Central Bank and its relationship with commercial banks, and the non-banking finance sector. Apart from its value as a contribution to financial policy making, it is also a scholarly work of relevance to academics and students.
In retirement, Ranji kept himself busy, engaging himself in many little but useful tasks. He was actively engaged in two Buddhist institutions, in and around Washington. He was the founding director and long-time vice-president (primary layperson) of the Buddhist Vihara in Washington D. C. He was also involved with the International Buddhist Centre in Wheaton, Maryland. He was a founding member of the Sri Lanka Association in Washington, and he played a key role in the Serendipity Group, an informal group in Washington promoting Sri Lanka-U.S. relations. This group included many former U.S. ambassadors to Sri Lanka.
Once when I was visiting Washington, I attended a concert and variety entertainment organised by Ranji and one or two others to raise funds for post-tsunami work in Sri Lanka. It was a concert attended by Sri Lankans and Americans, and I remember meeting U.S. Congressman Van Hollen there. He is the son of one of the most eminent U.S. ambassadors in Sri Lanka, Chris Van Hollen.
Ranji also was an informal advisor to visiting Sri Lankan officials and delegations. Ranji’s interest in all things Sri Lankan stayed with him throughout his life.
What Ranji enjoyed most was his family life. He married his wife, Surangani, and into the Amarasuriya family. They had a very happy life together for fifty-one years. Ranji saw to it that his children got the best education, in the leading universities in the U.S.A. and U.K.
Surangani herself was encouraged, once the children had grown up, to qualify as a Certified Public Accountant in the U.S.A. Their children, Ranmali, Ruwan, and Ranil, son-in-law Lalin and daughter-in-law Kamani formed a close network, living in close proximity to each other.
The cosy residence of the Salgados, set in the beautiful wooded landscape of Bethesda, had a constant stream of Sri Lankan visitors. Surangani and Ranji were most welcoming hosts.
Leelananda De Silva |
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