Renowned economist Indrajith Coomaraswamy appointed as new Central Bank Governor

Renowned economist Indrajith Coomaraswamy has been appointed as new Central Bank Governor ending a 24-hour stalemate on the appointment.

Dharmasiri Ekanayake, media spokesperson at the President's Office, told TimesOnline on Saturday that the new Governor will assume duties on Monday, July 4.

Arjuna Mahendran's turbulent 17-month period as Governor ended on Thursday evening while his replacement was caught up in differences of opinion between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The President's nominee was Deputy Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe while the PM was pushing for former Treasury Secretary Charitha Ratwatte as a stop-gap appointment in case Mahendran was cleared in a parliamentary probe on tainted bond issues and eligible for a second term. 

Mahendran has been embroiled in controversy from the month (February 2015) he took over to complete the remainder of Ajit Nivard Cabraal's term of office after the latter resigned following President Mahinda Rajapaksa shock defeat at presidential polls in January 2015. A bond issue in February drew allegations that Perpetual Treasuries, a firm owned by the family of Mahendran's son in law, Arjun Aloysius, secured undue advantage in that deal.

The new 66-year old Governor is a widely respected economist, scholed at Royal College and Britain Harrow College before starting off in the Central Bank, moving to the Ministry of Finance and ending a distinguished career after a long spell as Director Economic Affairs at the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat.. He was also appointed pro-tem head of the proposed Agency for International Development a position he would have to relinquish with his entry as Central Bank Governor. -- (Feizal)