Sri Lanka development slide from a 1970s basic needs success to external debt default in 2022 is merits attention. So too is its rapid IMF economic stabilisation and its trade/aid ties with India during global trade uncertainty. This public lecture analyses the causes of Sri Lanka’s crisis and lessons for others.
Sri Lanka is once again in the international development spotlight. Sri Lanka’s development reversal from a 1970s ‘basic needs’ success story to an external debt default in 2022 is attracting increasing academic and policy attention. The country is also reputed for being caught in a so-called ‘China debt trap’ through significant commercial infrastructure borrowing and governance problems while achieving rapid economic stabilisation in 2025 via a tough 18th IMF programme and closer aid/trade relations with a fast-growing Indian economy in an uncertain global trade environment.
This public lecture analyses the root causes of Sri Lanka’s crisis, the factors driving its recent economic recovery, the economic gains from closer trade with India, policy implications for sustaining growth and policy lessons for other indebted developing countries.
It draws on the authors extensive research on Sri Lanka including:
- Sri Lanka: Debt Default to Transformative Growth, (co-editor with D.W te Velde) London, ODI Global, 2025;
- Trade Liberalisation in Sri Lanka: Exports, Technology and Industrial Policy, (author) Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 1998;
- Sovereign Debt Default and Economic Crisis in Sri Lanka: Causes and Policy Lessons, (author), South Asia Scan National University of Singapore, Institute of South Asian Studies, 30 April 2024.
Speaker
Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja, Visiting Senior Fellow, ODI Global. Previously, he was Executive Director of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry think tank, Director of Research of Asian Development Bank Institute and Visiting Scholar, International Monetary Fund.
Chair
Amrita Saha, IDS Research Fellow.
IDS Senior Research Fellow. Amrita is an economist with a focus on inclusive trade, political economy and development. She leads IDS’s work on trade and development.
How to watch
You can attend in person or register to watch online on Zoom.
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Accessibility
This event will take place in the IDS Room 100 which is on the 1st floor of the IDS Building. If you need to use a lift then press floor 1.
If you have any accessibility issues then contact [email protected]
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