Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, who is tipped to be appointed as the next Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, has arrived in the country from Australia a short while ago. 

The former Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank is expected to officially assume duties as the new Central Bank governor tomorrow (April 08).

According to sources, Dr. Weerasinghe was in Australia on a personal visit and had accepted an invitation from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to take up the post of CBSL Governor amidst the country’s economic crisis. 

The appointment comes in the wake of Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s resignation from the position of Central Bank governor on Monday (April 04). He had resigned from the post following the resignation of the entire Cabinet of Ministers. 

A highly-respected central banker and economist, Dr. Weerasinghe was promoted to the position of a Deputy Governor on 27 September, 2011 while he was serving as an Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund and assumed office as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on 01 September 2012.  

Dr. Weerasinghe has a Ph.D and Master’s Degree in Economics from the Australian National University and a B.Sc. Degree from the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka.  

Dr. Weerasinghe had served as Chairman of the Monetary Policy Committee and the Foreign Reserve Management Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). 

He had also functioned as Deputy Governor supervising the Departments of Economic Research, Statistics, International Operations, Domestic Operations, Macroprudential Surveillance, Exchange Control, Currency and Communications.

He later had been promoted to the position of Senior Deputy Governor of CBSL while he decided to take an early retirement in October 2020.