Dr. Ravindra Yatawara – an appreciation

Dr. Ravindra A. Yatawara passed away on Saturday, 28 Oct., ^,2023. We lost a great friend and the country a front-ranking economist and respected expert on finance and financial engagements.Ravi received a B. A (Phi Beta Kappa) from Reed College, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University.

I came to know Ravi when he worked as a summer intern in the early 1990s at the World Bank. He became an indispensable co-worker and a close friend besides being an invaluable member of the South Asian economists’ team. Thereafter, he was appointed Senior Economist at the World Bank for South Asian countries.

Ravi was a part of the World Bank’s Trade and Competitiveness practice section, working on South Asian regional integration, foreign investment, and global value chains. He co-led work on intra-regional foreign investment throughout the entire region and researched FDI’s relationship to trade. He was a member of the core team of the World Bank’s global value chain community on apparel. His previous work with a global focus has included the impact of the global recession on trade, regional integration, product development, FDI and jobs, competitiveness, and gender, as well as the political economy of reforms.

He has held faculty positions at Columbia University and the University of Delaware, where he was a popular teacher given his wide knowledge, natural commitment, and empathy for his students. During his period as an Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware, he was a popular teacher of international trade, macroeconomics, and monetary theory. He also taught an international trade course in Europe. He was a well-liked lecturer given his excellent training and commitment to his students.

All this work and commitment did not stop him from running in the New York Marathon!

Upon returning to Sri Lanka, he became the General Manager of LB Finance, Non-Executive Director of Multi Finance PLC (Consumer Lending) , Director of the Credit Insurance Bureau of Sri Lanka, Director of the Leasing Association of Sri Lanka and LB Microfinance Myanmar Co. Ltd. Thus, he widened his frontiers to management from his academic training on trade to finance on a large scale.

He was an excellent collaborator in being a co-author with me and delved into the subject matter deeply. It was a great privilege and a pleasure to have worked with him. We will miss him sorely. And wish him a short journey through Samsara!

Dr. Sarath Rajapatirana