Punchi Banda Jayasundara is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n economist. He was the former Secretary to the President,

Gotabaya Rajapaksa Lieutenant Colonel Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa ( si, නන්දසේන ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ; ta, நந்தசேன கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ஷ; born 20 June 1949) is a former Sri Lankan militar ...

and former

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

on multiple occasions.

Education

He was a past pupil of

Maliyadeva College ''විද්‍යා භූෂනං පුරුෂ භූෂනම්'' ''Vidya Bhūshanam Purusha Bhūshanam'' , motto_translation = Science is the jewel of man , location = Negombo Rd, Kurunegala , city ...

Kurunegala Kurunegala ( si, කුරුණෑගල, ta, குருணாகல்) is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of the North Western Province and the Kurunegala District. Kurunegala was an ancient royal capital for 50 years, fr ...

and Jayasundera was graduated from

University of Sri Lanka The University of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, ta, இலங்கைப் பல்கலைக்கழகம்) was the public university system of Sri Lanka from 1972 to 1978. Est ...

, Colombo in 1973 with a BA in Economics, he also gained Masters in Development Economics from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

in 1980 and a PhD in Economics from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

in 1984.Dr P B Jayasundera and the Sri Lankan Economy
/ref>

Career

Central Bank

He joined the

Central Bank of Sri Lanka The Central Bank of Sri Lanka ( CBSL; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව, Sri Lanka Maha Bankuwa) is the monetary authority of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1950 under the Monetary Law Act No.58 of 1949 (MLA), it is a ...

as an economist in 1974 and was later promoted to the senior economist in the 1980s following his postgraduate studies in the United States.

Ministry of Finance

In 1990, he was seconded to the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

(Ministry of Finance) as an Economic Advisor in 1990 on secondment. In 1995 he was appointed as Director-General, Department of Fiscal Policy and Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and from 1997 to 1999 he served as the Deputy Secretary to the Treasury. He served as Secretary to the Treasury and the Ministry of Finance from 1999 to 2001, during which Sri Lanka experienced its first recession since gaining its independence in 1948. He then served as Chairman, Public Enterprises Reform Commission, Senior Policy Advisor, Ernst & Young Sri Lanka, and as a consultant to the

IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

and the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

in Sri Lankan assignments. Jayasundera was reappointed as Secretary to the Treasury and Ministry of Finance in 2004.

Removal from public office

In 2008, he was found guilty by the

Supreme Court of Sri Lanka The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය, Sri Lanka Sreshthadikaranaya; ta, இலங்கை உயர் நீதிமன்றம், Ilankai uyar neetimanram) is th ...

of a violation of procedure in the awarding of a large contract for the expansion of the

Port of Colombo The Port of Colombo (known as Port of Kolomtota during the early 14th Century Kotte Kingdom) is the largest and busiest port in Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean. Located in Colombo, on the southwestern shores on the Kelani River, it serves as an ...

. The court barred him from holding any public office. As a result, he resigned from all public offices he held at the time. In 2009, on invitation by then President

Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...

to P.B. Jayasundera to once again take up the post of treasury secretary, he submitted a fundamental rights petition protesting the original decision to the Supreme Court, which was heard by the newly appointed Chief Judge who overturned the previous decision and allowed Jayasundera to be reinstated as secretary of the treasury.Transparency and Public Accountability Fiscal Mismanagement Lack of Public Accountability: Case Study - Sri Lanka a Country Under the Purview of IMF, World Bank and ADB Constitution and Social Contract Rule of Law Attorney General and the Judiciary
/ref>

Flight

On the day before the 2015 presidential election, at which Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated, Jayasundera left the country to Singapore. He was replaced the day after the election by Dr. R H S Samaratunga as secretary of the treasury.

Secretary to the President

Following the election of Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother President

, Jayasundera was appointed Secretary to the President on 19 November 2019. He gave his resignation in December 2021, and was asked to leave on 15 January 2022 by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa following a long dispute between Jayasundera and the Cabinet of Ministers, who disliked his level of power and influence, with the ministers blaming Jayasundera over the

2019–present Sri Lankan economic crisis The Sri Lankan economic crisis is an ongoing crisis in the island-state of Sri Lanka that started in 2019. It is the country's worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948. It has led to unprecedented levels of inflation, near-depletion ...

. He along with former Treasury Secretary Attigala and former CBSL Governor

Ajith Nivard Cabraal Ajith Nivard Cabraal ( si, අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල්) (born 14 December 1954) is a Sri Lankan accountant and politician who was also the 16th Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He is also the former State ...

were later accused by Finance Minister Ali Sabry of preventing the Sri Lankan Government from approaching the

for a bailout in favor of a home grown solution which ultimately forced Sri Lanka into a preemptive

sovereign default A sovereign default is the failure or refusal of the government of a sovereign state to pay back its debt in full when due. Cessation of due payments (or receivables) may either be accompanied by that government's formal declaration that it wi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jayasundera, P. B. Living people Sri Lankan economists Sri Lankan bankers Sinhalese civil servants Permanent secretaries of Sri Lanka Alumni of Maliyadeva College Alumni of the University of Sri Lanka Williams College alumni Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Year of birth missing (living people)