Briefs

THE Finance Ministry plans to sell its stakes in several operations to lessen the public debt burden, while planning to propose the Cabinet a specific law to make borrowings to refinance Bt700 billion in debts in the next two months.
Finance Minister Sommai Phasee said the government would seek more money to pay down about Bt720 billion worth of debt, and one way to do this was to sell its stakes in operations from which the ministry gains no benefits and has no management control over. Issuing government bonds could be another solution.
Early this week, Theeraj Athanavanich, deputy director-general of the Public Debt Management Office, said a specific law would be introduced to borrow Bt700 billion to cover debts arising from the rice-pledging scheme and from state enterprises.
Long- and medium-term bonds and short-term borrowings would be used as tools as appropriate.

New Ford Asean boss appointed
Ford Motor Company has announced the appointment of Mark Kaufman as president of Ford Asean, effective June 1. Kaufman is currently vice president for marketing, sales and service at Ford Southern and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Kaufman will be based at Ford’s Asean headquarters in Bangkok, and will report directly to Dave Schoch, Ford group vice president and Asia-Pacific president.
He will replace Matt Bradley, who has been appointed director of US customer service and sales, and will move back to the United States.
In his new role, Kaufman will be responsible for managing and growing Ford’s integrated operations across the Asean region, as well as the company’s Asia Pacific Emerging Markets (APEM) unit.
“Mark has a rich history with Ford, and his creativity, leadership and experience in both developed and developing global markets will be key ingredients in driving our ongoing product-led transformation across Asean and our APEM markets,” Schoch |said.
Since 2013, Kaufman has overseen the marketing, sales and customer service functions for the 27 countries that make up Ford’s Southern Africa and Sub-Saharan region.
During this time, he has helped orchestrate the launch and introduction of several new global Ford vehicles.
Having joined Ford in 1989, Kaufman began his career in product development before transitioning to marketing, where he advanced to hold various senior positions within the marketing and sales function.