State units should be centralised: superboard member
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State-owned enterprises should be brought under a centralised agency as is done in other countries, as this would improve scrutiny of their management and enhance their financial performance, said Banyong Pongpanich, a member of the State Enterprise Polic
Banyong, who is also chairman of the executive committee of Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group, said Thailand’s state enterprises at present were managed separately and with different standards, and if these could be centralised, their efficiency would improve.
State enterprises play a crucial role in driving the economy but excluding specialised financial institutions (state banks), their assets total Bt5 trillion, and even though their annual accumulated revenue is Bt4.8 trillion, their expenses are huge at Bt4.6 trillion.
State enterprises back other businesses that service the public and infrastructure, so they need to be improved to make the country more competitive, he said. He believes privatisation would improve productivity, but the important thing is that each enterprise must be restructured to ensure that it will not monopolise the market.
At the next meeting of the superboard, its commissioners who are permanent secretaries will be replaced by Cabinet ministers, he said.
The commission is supposed to scrutinise the rehabilitation plans of seven state enterprises, some of which have submitted their plans only to have the superboard send them back for revision.
The seven enterprises are Thai Airways International, the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand, the Islamic Bank of Thailand, the State Railway of Thailand, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, CAT Telecom and TOT.
He pointed to Thai Airways, TOT, CAT Telecom and MCOT as four state enterprises that could compete but continued to face losses.
