Financial Times

Ex Central Bank governor Dr. Rasaputram dies

The Central Bank last week announced the death of Dr. Warnasena Rasaputram, a former Governor, a career Central Bank Officer and finally a distinguished diplomat who served Sri Lanka.

Rasaputram joined the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 1951, at the age of 24, having graduated with honours from the University of Ceylon with a degree in Economics, specializing in Statistics. He was one of the first direct graduate recruits to the Central Bank and his expertise in Economics and Statistics was to reflect very clearly in his work in the Bank. In 1968 he was appointed Director of Economic Research and in 1971 released for service with an ILO team, led by Professor Dudley Seers, to report on the unemployment problem in Sri Lanka. He also served as a United Nations expert in Iraq and in several countries in Asia and the Caribbean. Dr. Rasaputram was appointed Assistant to the Governor in 1974 and Deputy Governor in 1975.

In 1976 he was appointed Alternative Executive Director at the IMF and in February 1979 was appointed Governor of the Central Bank. He guided the operations of the Bank during a time of great change as Sri Lanka moved from a closed economy to an open market orientation. He was a pioneer in forming the South East Asian Central Banking Forum (currently known as The SEACEN Centre) and strengthening regional central bank cooperation in Asia. He also promoted the decentralization of the Central Bank, setting up regional branches in Matara, Anuradhapura and Matale and was instrumental in establishing the Regional Development Banks. He served as Governor until November 1988, when he relinquished his post to serve as an Ambassador. In 1988, Dr. Rasaputram was appointed as Ambassador to France, subsequently serving as High Commissioner to Malaysia, Permanent Representative to the UN Offices in Geneva and Vienna and was Ambassador to the Vatican. His final posting was as Ambassador to the United States.