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.