Pridiyathorn Devakula

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MR Pridiyathorn Devakula (2009)

Mom Rajawongse Pridiyathorn Devakula ( Thai ม. ร. ว. ปรีดิ ยา ธร เทว กุล , RTGS Mom Ratchawong Pridiyathon Thewakun ; born July 15, 1947 in Bangkok ) is a Thai economist, manager and politician. From 2001 to 2006 he was the president of the Thai central bank . After the 2006 coup, he was finance minister and deputy prime minister in the transitional government set up by the military. After the coup in 2014, he was again Deputy Prime Minister responsible for economic policy in the military-dominated cabinet of General Prayut Chan-o-cha until 2015 .

Family and education

Pridiyathon is the youngest son of the diplomat Prince Prididebyabong Devakula and his second wife Mom Taengthai. His grandfather was the long-time Foreign Minister (1881-1923) Prince Devawongse Varopakar , his great-grandfather King Rama IV. (Mongkut). He attended the prestigious St. Gabriel School in Bangkok for twelve years. He then studied economics at Thammasat University and completed the Master of Business Administration program at Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania in 1970 .

Pridiyathorn is divorced from Paulin Intasukij, with whom he has two sons, including TV presenter ML Nattakorn Devakula (“Khun Pluem”). He is second married to Prapapan Devakula Na Ayudhya, with whom he has a daughter. In Thai media, Pridiyathorn is often referred to by his nickname "Mom Oui" ( หม่อม อุ๋ ย ).

Career

From 1971 to 1990 he worked in the management of Kasikorn Bank , in which his family held a significant share. Then he temporarily went into politics, serving as government spokesman under Chatichai Choonhavan and from 1991 to 1992 as deputy trade minister in the cabinets of Anand Panyarachun and Suchinda Kraprayoon . From 1992 to 1993 he was an appointed member of the Senate . Then he took over the board post at the state-owned Export-Import Bank of Thailand .

Central Bank President

In May 2001, at the express request of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, he was appointed President of the Bank of Thailand, Thailand's central bank. He soon criticized Thaksin publicly for his spending policy, which he blamed for increasing inflation. In 2004 and 2005 he waged an open dispute with the government over the lending practices of the majority state-owned Krung Thai Bank (KTB). Pridiyathorn blamed the president of the bank Viroj Nualkhair, a personal confidante of the then finance minister Somkid Jatusripitak , and other board members for the fact that she had granted a significant amount of "problem loans" and thus got into trouble. He tried to prevent Viroj's term of office from being extended and forced the KTB to increase its reserves for loan defaults.

Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister

After the coup on September 19, 2006 , he was appointed finance minister and deputy prime minister in the military-backed interim government of Surayud Chulanont on October 8, 2006 . He came under fire in December 2006 after the government introduced a law regulating foreign trade and the Bank of Thailand, which he oversees, introduced foreign exchange restrictions . The courses on the Bangkok exchange SET reacted very negatively to these measures. He then put the restrictions into perspective again. In late February 2007, Pridiyathorn suddenly announced his resignation from the government. He had previously expressed his displeasure that the “yellow shirt” leader Sondhi Limthongkul had received a broadcast on the government's channel 11 and that Somkid Jatusripitak, the finance minister under Thaksin, had been the special envoy for the dissemination of the theory attributed to King Bhumibol Adulyadej "Self-sufficient economy" had been appointed.

In an opinion piece in the English-language daily newspaper The Nation in January 2009, he expressed his longing for the “influential figures” who led Thailand in the “good old days”, including the dictatorial Prime Minister Sarit Thanarat . From 2010 to 2014 he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Post Publishing , which publishes the English-language daily newspaper Bangkok Post . Pridiyathorn clearly criticized the government of Thaksin's sister Yingluck Shinawatra , in office from 2011 , particularly its policy of guaranteed minimum prices for rice. He estimated the cost of this program in November 2013 at 425 billion baht. In February 2014, during the political crisis in Thailand , he wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister, in which he judged her economic policy to have failed and called on her to resign. Instead, he wanted a "neutral", unelected government to be appointed.

After another military coup on May 22, 2014, Pridiyathorn was appointed to the “advisory body” of the junta called the “National Council for Peace and Order”, where he was responsible for economic issues. On August 30, he was reappointed Deputy Prime Minister, this time under General Prayut Chan-o-cha. He was responsible for coordinating economic affairs. As a member of the government, Pridiyathorn had to disclose his assets in October 2014, he stated them at 1.38 billion baht. That made him the richest member of the cabinet. He left the government on August 19, 2015.

Pridiyathorn holds honorary doctorates from Chulalongkorn University , Maha Sarakham University and Sripatum Private University . He was awarded the special level of the White Elephant Order , the special level of the Order of the Crown of Thailand and the Order of Chula Chom Klao third class (upper half).

Remarks

  1. ↑ About € 33.8 million at the rate at that time

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b A Trusted Leader for Turbulent Times, Pridiyathorn Devakula, WG'70. ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wharton.upenn.edu archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: 125 Influential People and Ideas. The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
  2. ↑ Talking politics. In: The Nation , July 17, 2007.
  3. ↑ For example Thanong Khanthong: Two-Horse Race for Central Bank job. In: The Nation , July 24, 1997; Uwe Parpart: Thailand - Where Wharton, Keynes and confusion reign. In: Asia Times Online , June 5, 2001; Thanong Khanthong: Financial Fund - BOT governor's bold plan. In: The Nation , June 6, 2002; Lamphai Intathep: Pridiyathorn urges bigger focus on trade.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bangkokpost.com   In: Bangkok Post , July 22, 2014.
  4. ↑ Fred Thurlow: Thaksin has his way. In: Asia Times Online , May 30, 2001.
  5. ↑ a b biography at the Bank of Thailand. ( Memento of the original from November 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bot.or.th
  6. ↑ Jikon Lai: Financial Crisis and Institutional Change in East Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke (Hampshire) / New York 2012, p. 156.
  7. ^ Jenny Paris: Thai Central Banker Risks Job to Fight Lax Lending. Dow Jones October 5, 2004.
  8. ^ William Barnes: New twist in Thai bank loan scandal.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ft.com   In: Financial Times , February 15, 2005.
  9. ^ John Funston: Introduction. In: Divided Over Thaksin. Thailand's Coup and Problematic Transition. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 2009, p. Xxi.
  10. ↑ Stocks dive on new controls. In Nicholas Grossman: Chronicle of Thailand. Headline News since 1946. Editions Didier Millet, Singapore 2009, p. 397.
  11. ↑ Eswar S. Prasad: The Dollar Trap. How the US Dollar Tightened Its Grip on Global Finance. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2014, p. 192.
  12. ^ Surayud cabinet under pressure. In Nicholas Grossman: Chronicle of Thailand. Headline News since 1946. Editions Didier Millet, Singapore 2009, p. 399.
  13. ↑ Pridiyathorn Devakula: Missing Field Marshal Sarit and Professor Sanya, I am. ( Memento of the original of July 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / nationmultimedia.com archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Nation , January 5, 2009.
  14. ↑ Federico Ferrara: Thailand Unhinged. The Death of Thai-Style Democracy. Equinox Publishing, Singapore 2011, p. 125.
  15. ↑ Surasak Tumcharoen: Post-election crisis could prolong political uncertainty in Thailand. Xinhua, February 14, 2014.
  16. ↑ Supunnabul Suwannakij, Suttinee Yuvejattana: Thailand spurns IMF's Call to Rethink Rice-Purchase Program. Bloomberg, November 13, 2013.
  17. ^ Pridiyathorn calls Yingluck a failed government. Thai PBS, February 6, 2014.
  18. ↑ Pridiyathorn calls on PM to quit. In: Bangkok Post (online), February 7, 2014.
  19. ^ Prawit, Somkid, Pridiyathorn named advisers . In: Bangkok Post , May 27, 2014. 
  20. ↑ Chris Blake: Thailand's Junta Leader Has Millions in Cash, Cars, Luxury Goods. In: Bloomberg News , October 31, 2014.

Web links

Commons : Pridiyathorn Devakula  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Pridiyathorn Devakula
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Thai economist, manager and politician
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Bangkok