Sean Turnell Bio

Sean Turnell is an Australian economist and former economic policy advisor to State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar. He is also an honorary professor of economics at Macquarie University, a former staff member of the Reserve Bank of Australia, and the director of research at the Myanmar Development Institute.

In 2009, the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies published his book on key periods in the history of Myanmar’s financial sector, Fiery Dragons: Banks, Moneylenders and Microfinance in Burma.

Turnell was under detention in Myanmar between February 2021 and November 2022 for 650 days, charged with breaching the Myanmar Official Secrets Act while working in an advisory capacity to Aung San Suu Kyi