Harsha de Silva

Harsha de Silva (හර්ෂ ද සිල්වා born 30 August 1964) is a Sri Lankan economist and politician. He is a Member of Parliament for the Colombo District and former Non-Cabinet Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution; State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs; and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is a member of Samagi Jana Balawegaya.

Early life
He was educated at Royal College Colombo, earning a BS in Business Management from Truman State University(formerly Northeast Missouri State University) in 1988. He completed his MA and PhD in Economics at the University of Missouri in 1993. He participated in an executive program on evaluating social programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006 as an Eisenhower Fellow.

Banking career
As an economist he worked for the DFCC Bank, becoming its chief economist and treasurer. He was co-founder and Joint Managing Director of The Nielsen Company.

He was placed in charge of "Economic Diplomacy" of the government and was a supporter of economic liberalization and trade agreements. He is a supporter of major trade agreements and is a supporter of Sri Lanka joining the Trans Pacific Partnership.

He was the main backer of the Indian-aided project to create a modern EMT and Ambulance service in Sri Lanka. When India offered a gift to Sri Lanka in order to mark Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit, De Silva proposed an emergency medical service after personal experiences with shortcomings in the Sri Lankan system as well the urging of doctors. Wickremesinghe also backed it, leading India's GVK Emergency Response Institute to offer training to hundreds of Sri Lankan EMTs and Paramedics as well as donating ambulances and granting 7.5 million dollars to start the service in Colombo and Galle.

Political career
He was the Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Development in the 100-day government. He became known as a media personality who hosted talk shows relating to development and international matters. He voiced his opposition to the economic policies of the previous government. He was instrumental in the formation of the Suwa Seriya Ambulance Service in 2016. He was elected as the chairman of the public finance committee in parliament in 2022.