Ronnie de Mel
Sri Lankan civil servant and politician (1925–2024)
Ronald Joseph Godfrey de Mel (Sinhala: රොනි ද මැල්; 11 April 1925 – 27 February 2024) was a Sri Lankan civil servant and politician. He served as the Minister of Finance under President J. R. Jayewardene's government from 1977 to 1988 and was instrumental in the establishment of the free market economy in Sri Lanka. He was also the longest serving finance minister of Sri Lanka. De Mel served as a Member of Parliament on multiple occasions, first from the Devinuwara District from 1970 to 1989, then from the Matara District from 1994 to 2000, and finally as a National list member of Parliament from 2000 to 2004. He also served as a Senior Adviser to President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Although he was a self-described socialist, de Mel has been credited with introducing capitalism and capitalist reforms to Sri Lanka's economy. He left a lasting mark on Sri Lanka's economy and political life, as recognized by national leaders at his funeral.
Early life
Born to Rodget de Mel and Gladys Mendis, he studied at the St Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia and graduated from the University of Ceylon with a BA degree having majored in English, Latin, Greek and History.
Civil service career
De Mel joined the Ceylon Civil Service (CCS) in 1948, and was attached to the Department of Industries, Vavuniya Kachcheri, Puttalam Kachcheri and the Department of Social Services.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7366034. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1925, 2024, 1977 and 1988.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ronnie de Mel” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.