The Sri Lankan government appointed an ally of the new prime minister who previously worked as a wealth manager with HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) and Emirates NBD to run its central bank.
Arjuna Mahendran was today appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the president’s media office said Friday, Jan. 23 in an e-mailed statement. Mahendran succeeds Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who resigned a day after Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 10-year rule ended in Jan. 8 presidential elections.
The new governor faces the challenge of managing Sri Lanka’s largest debt repayment in a decade. Foreign borrowing more than doubled since the end of a civil war in 2009, underpinning a growth spurt that saw the island’s economy expand 7 percent a year on average.
