New Cabinet seen as an improvement

The private sector approves of the new Cabinet, believing it will boost internal and overseas trade, give more support to business to boost economic growth, and focus on stamping out corruption.

Issara Boonyong, adviser of the Business Housing Association, said the new Cabinet members would be an improvement on the previous team, especially the new commerce, deputy commerce and deputy finance ministers. 

“We think the new Cabinet has to focus on how to manage the country and also to deal with the corruption problem at a time when the government has more mega-projects in both water management, worth Bt350 billion, and infrastructure, worth Bt2 trillion,” he said.

Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, expected the experience of newly appointed ministers would give more opportunity for the private sector to help boost the country’s growth. However, progress depended on the government’s policies. The government should listen more to private sector demands, he said.

“The global economy will face a tougher situation in the second half of the year. The government needs to find measures to help promote both internal and overseas trading,” he said.

Chookiat also called on the new commerce minister to create transparency in its rice-pledging scheme and releasing plans.

Vallop Vitanakorn, vice chairman of the Thai National Shippers Council (TNSC) and vice chairman to the Federation of Thai Rice Industries, gave the new commerce minister three months to solve falling export growth, as well as to find measures to facilitate export expansion in the remaining year.

The priorities plan of the government should work for a boost in cross-border trade, promote investment, a stable baht, and solve the messy rice issue, said Vallop.

The TNSC has revised down its forecast export growth this year to 3 per cent from a previously estimated 4.92 per cent because of the baht’s fluctuation and economic slowdown of trading partners.

According to the monthly economic and monetary report of the Bank of Thailand, the export value in May dropped 5.1 per cent year on year to US$19.494 billion (Bt603 billion). Research houses have also slashed their expectations for the Kingdom’s export growth this year, as the country will be seriously affected by the economic slowdown in China. As an example, Kasikorn Research Centre (KRC) has cut its export-growth target for the year from 7 per cent to 4 per cent, with exports to China expected to expand by only 1 per cent, the lowest level in four years.

TNSC chairman Nopporn Thepsithar said the new Cabinet ministers are quite suited to their posts and should create more confidence among businesspeople. He called on the new Cabinet to allow more cooperation among the private sector in order to help promote economic growth in the country and reduce obstruction to trading and investment. 

Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, chairperson of Toshiba Thailand, said the government should take as its priority the development of people through education to help the country’s sustainable growth. People quality should be strategically improved so they will be able to compete with other countries.

“The give-away free tablet computers to young students is not helping them to improve themselves, but the educational process should be designed to focus on promoting their creativity,” said Kobkarn.

She said the government should continue with both the Bt2-trillion infrastructure and logistics and Bt350-billion water management projects. However, such projects should be transparently managed and of good quality.

“They [the government] should also pay attention to strengthening the local agricultural sector to ensure it is more efficient and systematic,” said Kobkarn. She gave the example of China, which set its national vision to become the kitchen of the world. It has had a strong reshuffle in its farming sector, especially rice fields, to improve productivity.

Yuthachai Soonthronrattanavate, president of the Association of Domestic Travel, said he felt no enthusiasm for the cabinet reshuffle. And he believed its change would not help create a good image for the government, especially when it’s dogged with corruption issues.

It’s clear from the beginning that the PM has not put “the right men in the right job” in her Cabinet selection, he said. Changes came from many factors, especially those aimed for their own benefit, not for the country overall. But that’s the way of Thai politics, he said. 

Clearly, the newly appointed Cabinet members will work on the same tasks by putting forward its three major initiatives – the Bt2 trillion on infrastructure project, flooding preventive projects, and rice-pledging programmes. 

To be fair, however, people should give the Cabinet time to prove themselves. Also, the tourism industry has got nothing from the change. It has been plagued by troubles. The government has never made a sincere effort to find a solution, he said.