Thailand’s new Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has appointed a group of economic and legal experts as advisers after her administration pledged to tackle a raft of economic challenges facing the Southeast Asian nation.  

The panel of advisers is headed by Pansak Vinyaratn, who served as an economic policy adviser to Paetongtarn’s father, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra during 2001-2006. Surapong Suebwonglee, who was the finance minister in a Thaksin-backed government in 2008, was named the deputy chairman, according to an order dated Sept 16.

Prominent economist Supavud Saicheua, who is currently chairman of the National Economic and Social Development Council, was also named as an adviser. Other members included Tongthong Chandransu, formerly an adviser to Paetongtarn’s predecessor Srettha Thavisin, and Phongthep Thepkanjana, who has headed many ministries in various governments of Thaksin and his sister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The board of advisers will help Paetongtarn analyse and study opportunities to improve the country, according to the appointment order. They will also make suggestions related to government policies, it said.

Paetongtarn, the third member of the influential Shinawatra clan to lead Thailand and a relative newcomer to politics, is turning to Thaksin loyalists to help her steer the economic and legal challenges facing her multi-party coalition government. The selection also signals how the former premier is likely wield significant influence over his daughter’s government.

Thailand’s youngest prime minister has vowed to revive Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy that’s stifled by near-record household debt and high cost of living. Her government has proposed a sweeping debt restructuring to tackle the household debt pile, offer financial assistance to small businesses and accelerate fiscal stimulus to lift growth rate that’s lagged its peers in the region.  

The advisory board’s appointment came after Paetongtarn kept Pichai Chunhavajira as finance minister in a signal of policy continuity from Srettha’s short-lived administration. Srettha was ousted last month in a surprise ruling by the Constitutional Court, which found him guilty in an ethics violation case.

Paetongtarn also previously appointed Prommin Lertsuridej as the prime minister’s secretary-general, a post he had held under former leaders Thaksin and Srettha.

  - Bloomberg