Charith Gunawardena is a co-founder of IPE. His professional life extends from the corporate to the political world. He worked and retired as a Director of Buhler UK Ltd, which is a high-tech machinery manufacturer for the global food industry whilst also being an elected ex-local councillor in London, England. He is a frequent contributor to Sri Lanka’s media on the importance taking mitigating steps to protect itself from abuses of the unjust global economic order. He holds an MBA and M.Phil in Engineering.
Policy Publications
Gunawardena, C.A. (2025). Alternative Debt Restructuring Strategy. Institute of Political Economy, Sri Lanka.
Gunawardena, C.A. and Wedagedara, A. (2024). IMF and IMF Renegotiations. Institute of Political Economy, Sri Lanka.
Public Policy Engagement
Gunawardena, C.A. (2025). Sri Lanka and the IMF: Another Stark Example of the Need for Urgent Debt Restructuring Reform, Bretton Woods Project, 15 July 2025.
Gunawardena, C.A., Gunathilaka, Melani (2025). Debt, Austerity and Democracy: Sri Lanka, Debt Justice UK 05 June 2025.
Media: Newpapers and Online Media Sites
Gunawardena, C.A. and Ruwanpura, K. N. (2026). Open Letter to Central Bank Sri Lanka Governor. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 6 January 2026.
Gunawardena, C.A., Professor Fadhel Kaboub, Richard Tye (2025). Not a moment to lose: Why Sri Lanka must Mobilise its Monetary and Fiscal Capacity. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 17 December 2025.
Gunawardena, C.A. (2025). Big Businesses Must Reform Now. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 30 November 2025.
Gunawardena, C.A. (2025). Rebuilding from Collapse: From Stabilisation to Transformation. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 11 November 2025.
Gunawardena, C.A. (2025). Sri Lanka Should Stop Appeasing Trump. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 29 July 2025.
Gunawardena, C.A. (2025). Why UN Financing for Development Conference is Sri Lanka’s Best Shot at Debt Justice. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 5 June 2025.
Ruwanpura, K. N. and Gunawardena C. A. (2025). “Grounding Economic Policies in Tumultuous Times” The Island, April 27th 2025
Gunawardena, C.A. (2025). Debt Justice for Sri Lanka. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 12 March 2025
Gunawardena, C.A. (2024). NPP’s Pragmatism and the Political Economy Daily FT Sri Lanka. 10 December 2024
Gunawardena, C.A. (2024). A polite challenge to Harsha de Silva. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 19 April 2024
Gunawardena, C.A. (2024). Economic Stability in Sri Lanka: Myth or Reality Daily FT Sri Lanka. 1 March 2024
Gunawardena, C.A. (2024). Electoral Prospects Sparks Optimism for Sri Lanka’s Underprivileged Daily FT Sri Lanka. 2 February 2024
Chandrasekhar, C.P., Wedagedara, A. and Gunawardena, C.A. (2024) IMF lauds developments that worsen plight of Sri Lanka’s poor. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 13 October 2023.
Gunawardena, C.A. (2024). ’Debt for nurture’ swaps: Sri Lanka’s children need help. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 1 September 2023
Gunawardena, C.A. (2023). IMF Deal: Facts Behind the Hype. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 23 March 2023
Gunawardena, C.A. (2022). Time for New Solutions for Sri Lanka: Fight for Private Creditor Debt Cancellation. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 28 July 2022
Gunawardena, C.A. (2021). Economic and Monetary Sovereignty: Realm of Possibilities in Sri Lanka. Daily FT Sri Lanka. 1 April 2
Media: Broadcast
Debt Restructuring after Ditwah, Face-toFace Television Programme, News First, Sri Lanka, 24 December 2025.
Did We Get A Raw Deal?, The People’s Platform, News First, Sri Lanka, 12 February 2025.
Can IMF Fix Sri Lanka’s Broken Economy, Get Real with Mahieash Johnney, Ada Derana News Channel, Sri Lanka, 15 April 2024.
Opinions
Gunawardena, C.A. (2025). A Transformative FDI Strategy. Institute of Political Economy, Sri Lanka. 2 June 2025
Gunawardena, C.A. (2025). Trump Tariffs and IMF. Institute of Political Economy, Sri Lanka. 3 April 2025
Gunawardena, C.A. (2025). NPP’s Political Appointments. Institute of Political Economy, Sri Lanka. 24 March 2025.
Gunawardena, C.A. (2025). Bondholder Proposals: Decline and Defer. Institute of Political Economy, Sri Lanka. 21 May 2024.
Declaration of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process.
During the preparation of some of these articles, Charith Gunawardena used language-enhancement tools such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek to refine and improve his specific sentences. All content was subsequently reviewed and edited by him, and he takes full responsibility for the final publications.