CFA Society to discuss on lessons learned in sovereign debt restructuring in Cyprus

CFA Society Sri Lanka will lead a virtual discussion under the theme ‘Lessons Learned in Sovereign Debt Restructuring In Cyprus During 2012-13’ today, at 6:00 p.m. onwards, Sri Lanka time.

Dr. Tamon Asonuma and Prof. Michael G. Papaioannou of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), USA will be the main speakers, who will present their key findings based on their published paper, which was presented at the Fifth Annual Sovereign Debt Restructuring Conference in March 2022, organised by Global Independence Centre, whilst the session will be moderated by CFA Society Sri Lanka Past President, JB Securities CEO and Advocata Institute Chairman Murtaza Jafferjee CFA.

CFA Society Sri Lanka President Dinesh Warusavitharana CFA said, “We are pleased to have Dr. Asonuma and Prof. Papaioannou of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), USA to present to us lessons learned from Cyprus economic crisis and have a discussion on its applicability to Sri Lanka in the present context to overcome from the prevailing economic crisis in Sri Lanka, as it requires to demystify the sovereign debt restructuring process immediately.”

It is also noted that Asonuma is an Economist in the Strategy Policy and Review Department of the IMF. Since joining the IMF in September 2010, he has spent most of time in the Research Department and Strategy Policy and Review Department. During his time in the Strategy Review and Policy Department, he has contributed to a series of IMF Policy Papers on sovereign debt restructuring and IMF lending and sovereign-bank linkages and involved in many debt restructuring cases (Greece, Myanmar, Belize, Cyprus, Grenada) as an expert. 

He holds a PhD in Economics from Boston University and his research interests are in macroeconomics, international finance and public finance. He is particularly interested in sovereign debt and financial crises and exchange rate regimes. He has published in several academic journals, among which the Journal of the European Economic Association, Journal of Asian Economics, Review of Development Economics and Asian Development Review. 

Dr. Papaioannou serves as a TA Expert Advisor at the IMF and is a Visiting Scholar and Professor at the LeBow College of Business, School of Economics, Drexel University. He was a Deputy Division Chief at the Debt and Capital Markets Instruments, Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the International Monetary Fund until July 2017. While at the IMF, he served as a Special Adviser to the Governing Board of the Bank of Greece and led numerous IMF missions on developing economic and financial policies for emerging market and developed economies, designing and implementing sovereign asset and liability management frameworks, developing local currency government bond markets and instruments and establishing and managing SWFs. 

Prior to joining the IMF, he was a Senior Vice President for International Financial Services and Director of the Foreign Exchange Service at the WEFA Group (Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates) and served as Chief Economist of the Council of Economic Advisors of Greece. 

He holds a Ph. D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA in Economics from Georgetown University and has published extensively in the area of international finance. CFA Society Sri Lanka states anyone who wishes to join the webinar, may register on https://forms.gle/qWXXtaGXYqvqSL1EA.