Jayantha Kelegama

Deshamanya Dr. Jayantha Kelegama
Jayantha Kelegama
Born	1928 Kurunegala, Ceylon
Died	2005 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Spouse(s)	Padma Kelegama
Field	Fabian socialism, Keynesian economics
School or tradition	Post-Keynesian economics
Alma mater	Maliyadeva College Trinity College, Kandy University of Ceylon University of Oxford

Deshamanya Jayantha Kelegama (1928 – 2005) was a Sri Lankan economist and civil servant. He belongs to the first generation of economists in the post-independent Sri Lanka.

Kelegama married Padmini and they had two sons; one of them is Sri Lankan economist Dr. Saman Kelegama.

After graduating from the University of Colombo with a degree in economics, Kelegama joined the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in the early-1950s with the first batch of officers which included Gamani Corea, Warnasena Rasaputra, among others. He proceeded to Oxford University for post graduate studies under a Central Bank scholarship thereafter.

After completing his doctorate in 1957, Kelegama returned to Sri Lanka and re-joined the Central Bank. He was seconded as the Senior Assistant Secretary to the Ministry of Trade in 1960 and in 1963 he was appointed as the Director of Economic Research in the Ministry of Finance – a post he held till 1966. It was during the 1960s that Kelegama together with P.B. Karandawala played a crucial role in formulating budgets of the 1960–1965 government. Kelegama served under three Finance Ministers during that time: T.B. Ilangaratne, Felix Dias Bandaranaike, and Dr. N.M. Perera. He was instrumental in establishing the People’s Bank and the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation in the early 1960s with the then Finance Minister, T.B. Ilangartna. He was also instrumental in introducing the Business Turnover Tax. He contributed to the preparation of budgets of the former Finance Minister, U.B. Wanninayake during 1965–1967.

He became the first Professor of Economics at Vidyalankara after it was converted from a Pirivena to a University in the late 1950s by Prime Minister, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike’s government. He with a few others pioneered the teaching of Economics in Sinhala at the University of Vidyalankara after swabasha was introduced. His contemporaries at Vidyalankara were K. Dharmasena, Tilak Ratnakara, Kamal Karunanayake, among others. During this period, he wrote many articles and made extensive contributions to the Ceylon Economist and to the news papers. Other contributors to Ceylon Economist at that time were I.D.S. Weerawardena, F.R. Jayasuriya, A.D.V.de S. Indraratna, H.A.de S. Gunasekera, Buddhadasa Hewavitharana, among others.