SET chairman could be named Thailand’s next finance minister
Pichai Chunhavajira, chairman of the Stock of Thailand (SET), is rumoured to become the next Finance Minister, succeeding Prime Minister and Finance Minister Srettha Thavisin, a news source revealed on Tuesday.
The change is expected to take place at the end of the current parliament session on April 9, said the source, adding that the move would relieve Srettha of the finance portfolio and allow him to focus solely on his duties as premier.
Pichai, 75, was appointed as advisor to Prime Minister Srettha on September 14, 2023.
He was voted the 18th chairman of SET on February 6 this year to succeed Prasarn Trairatvorakul, who had completed his three-year term as SET board chairman.
Pichai holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Thammasat University and a master’s in the same subject from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
He has been the chairman of the Bangchak board of directors since 2012 and was also a member of the Bank of Thailand’s board of directors from 2014 to 2017. He served as a director of PTT Exploration and Production Plc from 2001 to 2013.
Pichai was among 7 witnesses put forward by former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to the National Anti-Corruption Commission to provide a statement during the corruption trial involving her government’s rice subsidy scheme.
Yingluck was sentenced in absentia to five years in jail in 2017 for negligence in implementing the programme.
