Umesh Moramudali is a Post Graduate Researcher (PGR) in Development Policy and Managment at the Global Development Institute (GDI)

Email : [email protected]

Chinese loans, Sovereign Default, International Political Economy, Sovereign Debt, Middle Income transition and the Political Economy of Middle Class.

Umesh Moramudali is a Sri Lankan economist and a researcher, currently reading for his PhD in Develpment Policy and Managment at the Global Development Institute (GDI),  University of Manchester. His research mostly focuses on Chinese loans, public finance, public debt, middle income transition and the political economy of middle class. He has done extensive research work on Chinese lending to Sri Lanka, and myth of Chinese debt trap. His research was published in International Affairs Journal, Asian Perspective Journal, Asian Journal of Political Science, Roultage, and China- Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at the John Hopkins University. 

Previously, he was attached to the Department of Economics at the University of Colombo where he was a lecturer. He holds a BA (Honours) in Economics from the University of Colombo and an MSc in Economics from the University of Warwick, where he was awarded a Chevening scholarship.

Umesh received a studentship from Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) of North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) in 2025. 

Dr. Nicholas Jepson 

Dr. Elisa Gambino

Politics, governance and management

Global production networks, trade and labour

Process Tracing, Archival Research, Quantitative Analysis