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All eyes are now on Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee and on whom he will choose to chair the Bank of Thailand's board of directors and fill its five positions next week. These people will be crucial in determining the country's monetary policy, a particularly vital role now that the country and the global economy are facing an economic downturn.

Surapong would have to seek Cabinet approval for his choice of chairman for the central bank board. The finance minister is also entitled to name the other five members who will serve on the central bank's board of directors. The new Bank of Thailand Act outlines the nomination process to ensure its transparency and the independence of monetary policy.

The new Bank of Thailand Act gives more power to the board of directors and its chairman. The central bank's board of directors will be instrumental in selecting the members for the Monetary Policy Committee, the Financial Institutions Policy Committee and the Payment System Committee.

Therefore, those on the central bank's board should be seen by the market as being able to act without political interference to ensure their credibility in the eyes of the public and the financial system.

However, the names of those likely to sit on the central bank's board, which were leaked to the press, have raised concern that they might be too close to the finance minister. Therefore, there were concerns that if these people are to sit on the board, they might not have the freedom to guide monetary policy in the best interests of the country.

Those who sit on the board will determine the country's monetary policy and they should be able to do so without any political interference.

The check-and-balance role between the central bank and the Finance Ministry is essential. Last week, Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee criticised the central bank for raising the policy rate by 25 basis points. Surapong challenged the central bank by saying that time would tell whether the Bank of Thailand made the right decision.

Surapong's comment was natural because any government would want to promote growth in order to be popular with voters. But the central bank is perceived as an independent body that should be able to act without political interference. Some countries face exorbitant inflation because their central banks face pressure from the government to maintain low interest rates to boost economic growth.

The Finance Ministry is responsible for bolstering economic growth by using fiscal means, while the central bank is responsible for ensuring monetary stability. These two aims should be coordinated with independence to ensure economic stability.

Thus, the finance minister should be careful in choosing people to fill these crucial positions. His choices should have the integrity and strong ethics needed to serve the country's economic interests according to the spirit of the Bank of Thailand Act. He or she should be free from political influence and should not have conflicts of interest with issues decided by the central bank. The current political and economic instability stems largely from the public questioning the ethical standards of people in power and the government. Surapong should act in the best interests of the country to ensure that this same question of ethics will not come up at the Bank of Thailand.