The Pathfinder Foundation recently brought together a team of experts from three countries, India, Japan, and Sri Lanka, to conduct an in-depth discussion and brainstorm on immediate-term and medium-term solutions to address the current financial crisis faced by the country. Their conclusions have been published in a document titled “Recommendations for Sri Lanka: Debt Restructuring and Bridge Financing for Humanitarian Purposes”.

Bernard Goonetilleke, Chairman, Pathfinder Foundation, handed over the report to Finance Minister, Basil Rajapaksa at the Ministry of Finance.

The Study Group for Tripartite Cooperation comprised Amb. Nobuhito Hobo, Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) & Executive Adviser, GRIPS – ALLIANCE – Japan; Prof. Shinji Asanuma, Former Professor, School of International and Public Policy, Hitotsubashi University – Japan; Prof. Hirohisa Kohama, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Faculty of International Relations, University of Shizuoka – Japan;  Amb. Dr. Mohan Kumar, Chairman, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) – India; Bernard Goonetilleke, Chairman, Pathfinder Foundation – Sri Lanka; Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Distinguished Fellow, The Pathfinder Foundation – Sri Lanka; and Dr. Shanta Devarajan, Professor, The Practice of International Development at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service – USA.

Following several rounds of virtual discussions, the study group proposed a set of recommendations for debt restructuring and bridge financing to address the economic crisis to be presented to the three governments viz. India, Japan and Sri Lanka.