Dr Warnasena Rasaputra (formerly known as Warnasena Rasaputram) (6 September 1927 – 25 June 2003) was 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 ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and the seventh

Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka The Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) functions as the chief executive of the Sri Lankan central bank. The post is the ''ex-officio'' chairperson of the Monetary Board of Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Since its establishment in 1950, ...

Biography

Warnasena Rasaputram was born on 6 September 1927 in the village of Yatiyana, near

Matara, Sri Lanka Matara ( si, මාතර, translit=Māthara, ta, மாத்தறை, translit=Māttaṟai) is a major city in Sri Lanka, on the southern coast of Southern Province. It is the second largest city in Southern Province. It is from Colombo. ...

, the son of Don Nicholas and Jane

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Ratnayake. He was educated at St. Servatius' College, Matara and

Ananda College ''Appamādo Amathapadan'' (Buddhist quote from the Apramada Vagga in the Dhammapada) , motto_translation = Heedfulness, Punctuality leads to Nirvana , location = P De S Kularatne Mawatha , city = Colom ...

, Colombo. After graduating from the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univer ...

with a degree in economics with honours, specialising in statistics, Rasaputra 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 ...

in 1951. In the late 1950s, he was successful in obtaining a Smith-Mundt Scholarship offered by the

Institute of International Education The Institute of International Education (IIE) is a 501(c) organization which focuses on international student exchange and aid, foreign affairs, and international peace and security. IIE creates programs of study and training for students, educa ...

and the United States Educational Foundation, and subsequently a

Fulbright grant The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

. He attended the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, where in 1957 he obtained a master's degree in statistics and then doctor of philosophy in economics in 1959. He returned to the Central Bank and in 1968 was appointed director of economic research. In 1974 Rasaputram was appointed assistant to the governor and then deputy governor in 1975. On 15 February 1979, Rasaputram became the seventh governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, a position that he held for almost nine years. He assisted in guiding the country from a closed economy to an open market orientation. He also promoted the decentralisation of the Central Bank, setting up regional branches in Matara, Anuradhapura and Matale, and was also instrumental in establishing the Regional Development Banks. It was during his tenure that he changed his name to Rasaputra. In November 1988 he resigned from his post as governor and was appointed as the Sri Lankan

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

to France. He subsequently served as Sri Lanka high commissioner to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and the permanent representative to the UN offices in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and also ambassador to the Vatican. His last posting was as ambassador to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He resigned from this position in 2001 due to serious heart condition.

Personal life

Rasaputra married Jayanthi Sriya, with whom he had one child, Jaliya Gajaba. Following Jayanthi's death he remarried Seetha Gopalan on 28 October 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rasaputra, Warnasena 1927 births Sri Lankan economists Alumni of the University of Ceylon (Colombo) University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Sinhalese people Sri Lankan civil servants Permanent secretaries of Sri Lanka Governors of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka 2003 deaths

Biography

Personal life

See also

References