Supachai Panitchpakdi credibility to Thailand
Supachai Panitchpakdi credibility to Thailand
By Vithoon Amorn
BANGKOK (Reuters): Former central banker Supachai Panitchpakdi, Thailand's new deputy premier in charge of economic affairs, will lend credibility to the country by playing a key role in government at a time when its image abroad needs polishing.
The macro-economic expert, who was appointed concurrently commerce minister in new premier Chuan Leekpai's government last Friday, is seen working well with fellow economist and banker Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda, the new finance minister, to put the battered economy back on track.
Analysts said Chuan's popularity among Bangkok businessmen and other urban Thais was due to their confidence in the star-studded new government economic team led by Supachai and Tarrin.
"Supachai, the macro-economic expert, would team up well with Tarrin, the accomplished banker. Few Thai economists could match Supachai in assessing broad overall trends of the Thai and global economic pictures," said chief economist Banleusak Pussarangsi of the Mutual Fund Plc.
Supachai, 51, a fast talking economist with a doctorate in development planning from Erasmus University in the Netherlands, entered politics as a Democrat Bangkok MP in 1986 after a long career at the Bank of Thailand where he rose to be chief economist in the early 1980s.
More recently, he joined Chuan's last government during 1992- 1995 as deputy premier after a brief stint as president of the Thai Military Bank Plc.
Analysts said Supachai's long-standing focus on international trade and economic cooperation made him an ideal candidate to be in charge of the commerce portfolio while being deputy prime minister.
He has been active in global and regional forums, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the World Trade Organization, and the Association of South East Asian Nations.
An analyst at a Thai brokerage firm said the baht's plunge of more than 30 percent against the dollar since its flotation in July would ironically help Supachai's job in pushing cheaper Thai exports.
"The baht's fall and businessmen's high regard for him would help him in his job of boosting exports," he said.
Thailand's current worst economic turmoil in decades started in 1996 when its exports contracted 0.2 percent after they had grown over 20 percent a year through the early 1990s.
Thai export growth, eroded by cheaper competition from neighboring countries, remained weak in dollar terms this year despite the baht devaluation.
The analyst at the brokerage firm, who declined to be named, said the biggest challenge facing Chuan's economic team was how to tackle the Thai economic crisis which, he said, would get worse before it turned around.
"I would give this government a maximum six months before this initial euphoria turns to public frustration. The economy is heading for a crash in the first half of 1998 and there are no signs that we can avoid that, even with the caliber of people like Supachai and Tarrin," he said.