By Kitiphong Thaichareon and Thanadech Staporncharnchai
BANGKOK (Reuters) -A former private sector executive with experience of handling major state-owned financial institutions and a long-time central banker who could maintain continuity are in the race to become the next governor of the Bank of Thailand.
A seven-member panel this week shortlisted two candidates to replace Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput who ends his term on September 30.
Vitai Ratanakorn and Roong Mallikamas, respectively, offer a choice between an outsider governor who could be more amenable to the government and an institutional stalwart with experience in economics and financial policy, according to three people,
including economists and a government source.
Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira will pick one of them to propose to cabinet for approval before being sent to the king for royal endorsement. The cabinet is due to meet on Tuesday and Pichai has suggested the announcement could be made around his trip to the United States next week for trade talks.
The candidates and spokespersons for Thailand's finance ministry and central bank declined to comment.
The new governor will take the reins at a time of global trade turmoil and a raft of domestic challenges in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy.
Vitai, 54, president and chief executive of Government Savings Bank, Thailand's largest state-run lender, could be better aligned in working with the Pheu Thai party-led government, which has been struggling to fire up growth, three people said.
“A central bank led by Vitai could be more flexible and adopt a broader perspective,” said Piyasak Manason, head of economic research at InnovestX Securities.
With degrees in economics and law from Thailand's Chulalongkorn and Thammasat universities, Vitai spent time working in the country's private sector before becoming Secretary-General of the Government Pension Fund, which manages assets worth about 1.4 trillion baht ($43 billion), in 2018.
In 2020, he was appointed by the government to lead the Government Savings Bank.
“Vitai will be able to work well with the finance ministry and this minister because they have been working together for a while,” a finance ministry source told Reuters, asking not to be named, because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Thailand's economy has lagged regional peers as it struggles under high household debt and borrowing costs, and slowing tourism, a key growth driver. The government has been pressing the central bank to cut rates to support the economy.
