BANGKOK (REUTERS) - Thailand's king has approved veteran banking executive Predee Daochai as new finance minister, the official Royal Gazette said, handing him the task of navigating South-east Asia's worst performing economy through the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Predee, 61, former co-president of Kasikornbank and chairman of the Thai Bankers' Association, had been widely tipped to replace Mr Uttama Savanayana who resigned last month along with other ministers in a major economic team shake-up.
Mr Predee had worked for Kasikornbank for 38 years and graduated with law degrees from Thammasat University and a master's degree in law from the University of Illinois.
The departure of Mr Uttama and Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who headed the economic team, comes at a critical time for the economy which the central bank predicts will shrink by a record 8.1 per cent this year and adds to uncertainty over policymaking as Thailand struggles with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Analysts want to see policy continuity and new measures to boost the economy in the short and long term, including the development of the Eastern Economic Corridor(EEC), an ambitious connectivity and development project launched by the then military government to boost Thailand's industrial east.
"The market does not look at who but what policy will be announced," said Mr Naris Sathapholdeja, head of TMB Analytics.
"What the new finance minister needs to do is to retain jobs and support smaller businesses," he added.
Mr Tim Leelahaphan, economist at Standard Chartered Bank, said "We are paying special attention on who will serve as head of the economic team" as measures such as the EEC and the progress of various other mega projects were started under Mr Somkid and it remains to be seen whether the projects would be continued.
Thailand has also appointed a new central bank governor, Mr Sethaput Suthiwart-Narueput, an economic advisor to the prime minister, who will take over from Mr Veerathai Santiprabhob for a five-year term in October.
