Put a cap on state-enterprise diversification
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The Prayut Chanocha government should not allow state enterprises to embark into businesses that have nothing to do with their core undertaking.
For example, PTT, a SET-listed state enterprise that has enjoyed a near monopoly in retailing gasfor vehicles in the country, has jumped into a fried-chicken franchise, using the huge profit it has made from selling petroleum products.
This is an absolutely bad precedent for other Thai state enterprises. It is also an invitation to more and unnecessary corruption in these companies.
If the managers of these enterprises insist in seeing such potential in businesses other than their company’s core business, they should be told to resign and start their own companies—using their own investment money.
Vint Chavala
