The cabinet approved the Finance Ministry’s nomination, of Government Savings Bank president and CEO Vitai Ratanakorn, as the new governor of the Bank of Thailand today, succeeding Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, whose five-year term is due to expire on September 30.
The Finance Ministry’s choice of Vitai, instead of Dr. Roong Mallikamas, the incumbent deputy governor of the central bank for Financial Institutions Supervision, is not surprising, as the Pheu Thai-led government prefers to work with a central bank governor who is more accommodating and supportive of the government’s policies than with a contender from the Bank of Thailand, nurtured in a long-held culture of independence from political interference.
On Monday, a group of 17 economics professors, mostly from Thammasat University, submitted a petition to Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira, in an apparent last-minute attempt to stop him nominating Vitai.
They claim that Vitai is familiar with working in tandem with the government, in a way which is responsive to its policies, while the central bank requires a governor who is independent and free from government supervision.
The outgoing governor, Sethaput, is well-known for his disagreements with the government on some key issues, such as the Pheu Thai party’s ‘digital wallet’ scheme. He also resisted the government’s repeated calls last year to lower the benchmark policy rates to stimulate the economy.
Government spokesman, Jirayu Huangsap, said today that Vitai is viewed by the finance minister as being qualified for the central bank post because he is knowledgeable and well versed in macroeconomics and banking business that meet legal requirements.
Vitai, 54, has a BA in Economics from Chulalongkorn University, an MA in Political Economics and an MA in Business Laws from the same university, as well as an MA in Finance from Drexel University in the United States.
