BOT governor gives himself a 0-0 scoreline as he prepares to leave the job after five years

The outgoing governor of the Bank of Thailand, Prasarn Trairatvorakul, said in an exclusive interview with the Nation Multimedia Group’s adviser to the editorial board, Suthichai Yoon, that his job is like being a goalkeeper with the captain’s armband and he is happy that the score will be 0-0 when he leaves the position at the end of his five-year term.

He will be replaced by former economist at the International Monetary Fund and a current member of the BOT’s Monetary Policy Committee, Veerathai Santiprabhob. The new MPC member will be chosen by the newly appointed governor once he enters office on October 1.

“Credibility is at the heart of the Bank of Thailand and from what I have assessed I believe that we have not lost that under my time in office,” Prasarn said.

Here is an excerpt from the interview: 

Suthichai: If you did not lose it [credibility], did it increase?

Prasarn: If I am to side with myself, than I believe that he have gained some more [credibility]. And that can be observed from the media [coverage] and from what people have told us personally when we met them. That is what we call social capital and these two are something that I am quite satisfied with.

Suthichai: What did the current Bank of Thailand governor do to get this result?

Prasarn: It all came down to the simple phrase “You should do things that should be done and avoid doing things that should not be done”. The latter is something that you usually see in the news since it can bring about risk to the country.

For Thailand there are many things that should be done. But the important thing that can be analysed is to conduct monetary and economic policies under the central bank’s responsibility with good governance and to develop them so that there are enough tools while ensuring transparency at all time. Transparency is something that I have focused on since I have started to work here and this includes the revealing for the first time the details of the MPC vote at each monetary policy meeting.

Suthichai: You have said before that the private sector is like the attackers, the government is like the midfielders and the Bank of Thailand is like the defenders on the football field. So does this mean that Prasarn is the goalie?

Prasarn: The Bank of Thailand is centre backs and fullback along with being goalie since the chance for a goalie to go up front and score is slim. But centrebacks and fullbacks have to support the midfielders and the attackers from the deep from time to time. 

The danger is that the defenders go up too far and forget to get back down to defend when the opposition is counterattacking, which is similar to the fact that monetary policy can only be used to stimulate the economy in the short term as it cannot stay up front for too long or else it will hurt the country’s financial stability.

Suthichai: If the BOT governor is the goalie who is the coach?

Prasarn: The BOT governor can also be a coach but a coach can only coach off the field and before the game so I prefer to see it as a playing coach who wears the captain’s armband on the field. There are also other coaches such as ex-BOT older players who have laid down the foundations which are good paths for us to follow. Even the press can be one of the coaches.

Suthichai: Do you listen to the coaches?

Prasarn: Yes but we have to weight them. And I have told BOT personnel four short phrases to remember when it comes to communication and shared values – stand up straight, look far, reach out and stick to the ground.

From the latest survey with a sample size of 500, we found out the central bank is currently doing well in the stand up straight and looking far categories because they believe that we are honest and we provide sufficient analysis.

But the latter ones, which are reach out, such as communicating with local communities, and stick to the ground in terms of talking to the people on the ground and understanding the real world, are still shortcomings.

Suthichai: Did the BOT fail in the reached out and the sticking-to-the-ground categories?

Prasarn: No. And if I were keeping a score it would be around three out of five maximum points while stand up straight and looking far are around four out of five.

Suthichai: Is there anything you wish you didn’t do or you should have done … during your five-year term?

Prasarn: I do not think that there is any major mistake. But looking back I feel that the liaison in terms of government policy should have been done better than what has appeared. Better communication would have saved a lot of wasted time.

For example, a miscommunication around 2013 has led the government or the Finance Ministry sending many letters to the central bank and that prompted the BOT to write long letters back to explain the situation, hold more meetings and have debates in the press, and these processes caused us to waste a lot time.

Suthichai: So, if you were to give a football score since the start of your five-year term until now, what would that score be?

Prasarn: I would say that the final score at the end will be 0-0 since I believe that the goalkeeper did not let in any goals and I do not think that anything major is going to happen in the next four weeks, right? Or is there something going to happen in China again?