Mr. Umesh Moramudali

Mr. Umesh Moramudali is an economist and a researcher, specializing in international finance, political economy and China’s role in global finance. He is currently reading for his PhD in Development Policy and Management at the Global Development Institute (GDI), University of Manchester under the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) scholarship. His research focuses on Chinese loans, public finance, public debt, middle income transition and the political economy of global finance. He has conducted extensive research work on Chinese lending to Sri Lanka, and myth of Chinese debt trap, China – Global South relations and international finance. His research has been published in prestigious journals including International Affairs, Asian Perspective, Asian Journal of Political Science and other renowned publishers such as Routledge and the China- Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at the John Hopkins University.

Previously, he was attached to the Department of Economics at the University of Colombo where he was a lecturer. Umesh is also the co-founder of Sri Lankan think-tank Arutha Research, where he was the Director of Debt and China Research. Prior to joining the academia, Umesh worked as a Research Analyst at the Ministry of Finance of Sri Lanka, and a Senior Researcher at Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

He is a frequent contributor to international media outlets such as The Diplomat, and has been featured in the Financial Times, The Economist, Al Jazeera, CNBC and NDTV. Mr. Moramudali holds a BA (Honours) in Economics from the University of Colombo and an MSc in Economics from the University of Warwick, for which he was awarded the Chevening scholarship.