Pichai tipped as finance minister after offloading BCPG stake
Talk of Pichai Chunhavajira becoming the next finance minister began surfacing as soon as he offloaded his large stake in BCPG Plc.
Pichai chairs the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)’s board of directors, and on Monday, he sold all 1,169,642 shares he held in BCPG at the price of 7.30 baht per share. He pocketed 8.54 billion baht from the sale, which was made via Finansia Syrus Securities.
Pichai, who is considered to be a close adviser of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, became SET’s 18th chairman in early February.
It has been widely speculated that Srettha may hand the Finance portfolio he also holds to someone he trusts in a bid to cut down his confrontations with the Bank of Thailand.
Srettha appears to have been locking horns with BOT governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput over key economic policies. The biggest point of contention is Sethaput’s refusal to lower the policy interest rate, which Srettha believes is necessary to revive the economy.
Political observers also believe that Srettha will reshuffle the Cabinet once the current parliamentary session ends on April 9 and hand the Finance portfolio to Pichai.
BCPG Plc produces and distributes electricity generated by renewable energy, and also invests in other clean energy firms.
Sources say that both Srettha and former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra prefer to have Pichai as the next finance minister as he is the most trusted financial adviser of the Pheu Thai Party and the Shinawatra family.
Pichai became Srettha’s economic adviser in September last year.
When PTT Plc was privatised by the Thaksin Shinawatra government in 2001, Pichai was its vice president and played a key role in its privatisation.
In 2014, Pichai was also a key defence witness to testify in support of Yingluck against charges filed by the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
