As early as 2019, we watched as one policy after another pushed the Sri Lankan economy further into distress. By 2021, the country’s economic fragility was evident.
Ill-thought economic policies coupled with unsustainable debt and weak governance led to Sri Lankans experiencing the worst economic crisis since independence. As the crisis worsened, one question that kept surfacing was: “How did this happen?”.
We came together, as a collective of young economists, researchers and communicators to answer this question and detangle economics.
OUR BEGINNING: DEFAULT.LK
We began as Default.lk, an initiative to document the Sri Lankan economic crisis. What started as an effort to explain and archive soon evolved into a broader movement building economic literacy, training journalists and conducting research. This led to the founding of Arutha: a platform created to make economics meaningful.
FOUNDING ARUTHA: MAKING ECONOMICS MEANINGFUL
Our name, Arutha, stems from the Sanskrit word for “meaning”, which is shared across Sinhala (අරුත, Arutha) and Tamil (அர்த்தம், Arttam). It reflects our commitment to making economics meaningful across all three languages of Sri Lanka, rooted in our values of justice, equality and fairness.
Our audience is you - yes, you reading this. At Arutha, we work to demystify economic issues and bring them closer to everyday life, empowering people to think critically, advocate for themselves and engage with economic forces that shape their lives.
We research, analyse and communicate insights on Sri Lanka’s economy. Grounded in a political economic approach, we publish explainers, reports and briefs that decode economics. We centre our work on civic education initiatives that strengthen economic understanding.
Our approach to economics is pragmatic, guided by evidence rather than ideology. We focus on solutions led by facts, reason and context.
Our work is driven by the belief that everyone should be able to understand and take part in the economic decisions that shape their lives.
Meet the Team
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Yolani Fernando
As the Executive Director at Arutha, Yolani leads the tax research stream. Yolani is a political economist who previously worked at the Ministry of Finance and the Asia Foundation. She holds a BSc in International Relations and a MA in Governance, Development and Public Policy from the Institute of Development Studies where she was a Chevening scholar (2022/23). Research Interests: Taxes, Parliament and Policymaking Email: yolani@arutharesearch.org
Co-Founder & Director - Civic Education
Rehana Thowfeek
Rehana is an economist with an interest in political economy and public finance. At Arutha she leads the civic education initiatives. She has previously worked at the Institute for Health Policy and Verite Research.She also consults for Advocata Institute. She was a contributing writer for Al Jazeera on the Sri Lankan economy during the 2022 economic crisis. She holds an MSc in Economics from the University of Warwick. She is also an Australia Awards Alumnus. Research Interests: Governance and Public Finance, Trade, Food Security Email: rehana@arutharesearch.org
Co-Founder
Umesh Moramudali
Umesh is an economist specialising in public finance and heads Arutha’s Debt Research stream. He previously worked at the Ministry of Finance as a Research Analyst and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce as a Senior Researcher. He has a MSc Economics from University of Warwick where he was a Chevening scholar (2018/19). He is is currently pursuing his doctoral research at the University of Manchester Research Interests: Chinese Debt, China-Sri Lanka Relations, Public Finance Email: umesh@arutharesearch.org
Programme & Research Officer
Charuka Peiris
Charuka is a Programme and Research Officer with work experience at the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination (IMADR) and CINEC Campus. Prior to that, he served as a Research officer at the Presidential Commission for Election Reforms in Sri Lanka. Charuka holds a BA in International Studies from the University of Kelaniya and an MSc in International Relations from the Liverpool John Moores University. Research Interests: Governance, Foreign Policy and Gender Email: charuka@arutharesearch.org
Research Assistant
Shaheen Abdul Gani
Shaheen is a Research Assistant at Arutha with a background in International Relations. She earned her BA (Honours) from the University of Nottingham, where she examined the causes of Sri Lanka’s 2022 economic crisis. Prior to joining Arutha, she worked with policy and research organisations such as Hype Sri Lanka, Advocata Institute, and the Centre for a Smart Future. Research Interests: Sri Lankan Macroeconomic Policy, China-Sri Lanka Debt Relations, and Green Finance Email: shaheen@arutharesearch.org
Research & Communications Officer
Lughadarini Yogaraja
Lughadarini Yogaraja is the Research and Communications Officer at Arutha. She holds a B.A. in Politics and International Studies from the Open University of Sri Lanka and completed a Diploma in Public Law at the University of Colombo. She is a former government research analyst at the Sri Lanka Army Headquarters where her work focused on international relations, socio-economic analysis, and foreign policy. She has also written extensively for news articles on related national and international issues. Research interests: Urban Economics, Public Policy, and Political Economy Email: lughadarini@arutharesearch.org
Civic Education & Outreach Consultant
Amalini De Sayrah
Amalini is a Civic Education and Outreach Consultant at Arutha. She is Researcher, writer and project manager who has worked on topics of human rights, land, labour, gender, agriculture, memorialisation, and their intersections in Lanka. Interests: Civic Education, Engagement and Community-Oriented Solutions Email: amalini@arutharesearch.org
Communication & Outreach Consultant
Shehara Ratnasinghe
Shehara is a communications consultant at Arutha with an interest in short-story writing and poetry. Currently she works full-time as an Assistant Public Relations Manager for a PR company based in India. Previously she worked as a researcher for Verite Research, and was a freelance writer for the Daily Mirror, The Morning and HI!! Magazine. She holds an MBA from SLIIT. Interests: Social media, Social Issues and Creative Writing Email: communications@arutharesearch.org
Meet the Advisors
Advisor
Prof. Mick Moore
Mick Moore is a Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and the founding CEO of the International Centre for Tax and Development. He is a political economist whose broad research interests are in the domestic and international dimensions of good and bad governance in poor countries, focusing specifically on taxation in Asia and Africa.
Advisor
Romali Tudawe
Romali Tudawe is the Chief Executive Officer of Tudawe Brothers (Pvt) Ltd., one of Sri Lanka’s longstanding construction companies. She is a corporate lawyer with litigation experience and also an advisor whose work spans company law, corporate governance, public procurement, and disputes related to construction, securities, and contract law. She holds a Bachelor of Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Master of Laws in Corporate Governance and Practice from Stanford University.
Advisor
Dr. Gopa Kumar Thampi
Dr. Gopa Kumar Thampi is a governance, economic governance, and social accountability expert with two and a half decades of experience in international development. He played a key role in establishing the Global and South Asia hubs of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability (ANSA) under the World Bank and served as Chief Executive Officer of these hubs until 2011. He has also been the Director of Economic Governance at the Asia Foundation in Sri Lanka and is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Peace and Justice, BRAC University, Dhaka.
Careers at Arutha
At Arutha, we offer opportunities to work on major public policy and economic issues in Sri Lanka with an emphasis on effectively communicating complex issues. We value a flexible, transparent work environment and encourage nuanced, evidence-based views.
Don’t have an economics qualification? No problem; we welcome anyone from a broad range of public policy related backgrounds to join our dynamic team.
We’re always interested in hearing from curious thinkers. If you don’t see an open role that fits you, email us at careers@arutharesearch.org with a short note answering this question:
"If you could make one public policy change in Sri Lanka tomorrow, what would it be and why?"
We’re interested in how you think. There's no right or wrong answer.
Current Vacancies:
No current openings at this time
Partnerships and Collaborations
Arutha strives to collaborate with like-minded organisations and initiatives to effectively engage in our research and civic education goals. Our previous and current partnerships can be seen below.
