Economic research conference at University of Peradeniya

The 10^th Sri Lanka Economic Research Conference (SLERC) of the Sri Lanka Forum of University Economists (SLFUE) will be hosted by the Department of Agricultural Economics and Business Management and be held at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya on January 27-28 as a hybrid event.

The theme of the conference is ‘Towards a Green Economy: Opportunities, Challenges and Way Forward’. Chief Guest is Professor Kapila Perera, Secretary to the Ministry of Education while Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy, a former governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, will deliver the key note speech, the organisers said on Tuesday.

The Guest of Honour is Professor Premachandra Athukorala, Emeritus Professor of Economics of Australian National University. Dr. Nimal Sanderatne, a highly respected renowned economist in Sri Lanka, will be felicitated at the inaugural session of the 10^th SLERC. Dr. Anura Ekanayake will deliver a special address at this ceremonial event.

A panel discussion on ‘Role of Economics Education for Developing Sri Lanka’ will be held as the last event of the inaugural session of the 10^th SLERC.  Dr. Harsha Athurupane, the lead economist and program leader for human development for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, World Bank; Dr. Julien Picault, Associate Professor of Teaching at the University of British Columbia; and R.H.W.A. Kumarasiri, the Director General, Department of National Planning will join this session as panelists. A workshop on ‘Developing Effective Course Plans for Undergraduate Courses in Economics’ conducted by Professor Deepthi Bandara has been organised in conjunction with the 10^th SLERC as a capacity building event.

The second day of the 10^th SLERC has three invited speeches, a special session and seven contributory paper sessions. The first invited speech on the COVID-19 trade contagion sources and their likely impact on Sri Lanka will be delivered by Dr. Nihal Pitigala. Professor Jay Bandaralage and Dr. Athula Naranpanawa will jointly deliver the second invited speech where they discuss economy-wide impacts of government interventions.  Dr. Herath Gunatilake will deliver the third invited speech related to Environment Management during Crisis Times.

The 10^th SLERC, in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), will present a special session to discuss consequences of the COVID-19 policy response of the economies of South Asia. It is titled as ‘Consequence-Action-Consequence of COVID-19 for a quarter of humanity: Assessing evidence from diverse countries and contexts in South Asia’ and is moderated by Dr. Devesh Roy.