Kobsak Pootrakool ( th, กอบศักดิ์ ภูตระกูล; born 23 August 1968) is a Thai economist and former politician. He served as Minister of the Office of the Prime Minister in the first cabinet of Prime Minister

Prayut Chan-o-cha Prayut Chan-o-cha (sometimes spelled Prayuth Chan-ocha; th, ประยุทธ์ จันทร์โอชา, ; born 21 March 1954) is a Thai politician and retired Royal Thai Army, army officer who has served as the Prime Minister of T ...

. Before entering politics, he worked at the

Bank of Thailand The Bank of Thailand (BOT) ( Abrv: ธปท.; th, ธนาคารแห่งประเทศไทย, ) is the central bank of Thailand. History The Bank of Thailand (BOT) was first set up as the Thai National Banking Bureau. The Bank ...

and the

Bangkok Bank Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited ( th, ธนาคารกรุงเทพ, Royal Thai General System of Transcription, RTGS: Thanakhan Krung Thep) is one of the largest commercial banks in Thailand. Its branch network includes over 1,165 ...

Education

Kobsak Pootrakool obtained a scholarship from the

to study in the United States after finishing high school. He went on to earn a BA in mathematics and economics from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

in 1991 and a PhD in macroeconomics and international economics from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1997.

Professional career

After graduation, he came to work at the Bank of Thailand for 14 years, developing and implementing monetary policy and financial institution policy. He was seconded to the Stock Exchange of Thailand from 2008–2009 as executive director of its Research Institute for Capital Market. He resigned from the central bank in 2010 and joined

to work on international banking.

Political career

An interim constitution promulgated after the

2014 Thai coup d'état On 22 May 2014, the Royal Thai Armed Forces, led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Commander of the Royal Thai Army (RTA), launched a coup d'état, the 12th since the country's first coup in 1932, against the caretaker government of Thailand, foll ...

established a committee chaired by

Borwornsak Uwanno Borwornsak Uwanno ( th, บวรศักดิ์ อุวรรณโณ , sometimes spelled ''Bowornsak Uwanno''; born October 19, 1954) is a Thai legal expert, government official and professor-emeritus of Law at Chulalongkorn University. He w ...

to draft a new constitution. Kobsak was appointed to this Constitution Drafting Committee when a member resigned. The committee was dissolved in September 2015 after its draft was rejected by the National Reform Council. A new committee chaired by

Meechai Ruchuphan Meechai Ruchuphan ( th, มีชัย ฤชุพันธุ์, , ; born 2 February 1938 in Bangkok) is a Thai legal expert and politician who served as acting Prime Minister of Thailand in 1992. Life and career Education and civil se ...

replaced it and drew up a version that passed referendum on 7 August 2016 and came into effect on 6 April 2017. Not long after the committee dissolution, Kobsak was appointed as vice minister for Office of Prime Minister, working under deputy prime minister

Somkid Jatusripitak Somkid Jatusripitak ( th, สมคิด จาตุศรีพิทักษ์, , ; born 15 July 1953) is a Thai economist, business theorist, and politician. A mentee of Philip Kotler, he has (co-)authored books on competitiveness and ta ...

who was in charge of economic affairs. He was later appointed to the National Economic Reform Committee and eventually to the cabinet as Minister of the Office of the Prime Minister on 23 November 2017. When

Palang Pracharath Party Palang Pracharath Party ( th, พรรคพลังประชารัฐ, ; ) is a Thai civil-military political party with ties to the National Council for Peace and Order, the military junta that ruled the country after the 2014 coup. It ...

was established in 2018 to prepare the ruling government for the 2019 Thai general election, Kobsak was named as party spokesman. The new party was criticized by rival parties from having four serving ministers of the cabinet in executive positions, giving it an unfair advantage in the upcoming campaign. Although Kobsak, as spokesman, asserted that the ministers will not abuse their authority, all four ministers, including Kobsak, resigned from the cabinet on 29 January 2019 to devote their time to the election. The general election resulted in a coalition government led by Palang Pracharath party, with

elected as prime minister. Kobsak was not appointed to the new cabinet but instead given the post of deputy secretary-general to the prime minister. A year later, the military faction within the party consolidated its power and pushed out the technocrat faction.

, deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, resigned together with his economic ministerial team, including Kobsak.

References

Kobsak Pootrakool Kobsak Pootrakool ( th, กอบศักดิ์ ภูตระกูล; born 23 August 1968) is a Thai economist and former politician. He served as Minister of the Office of the Prime Minister in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Prayu ...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Williams College alumni 1968 births Living people

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