An architect of national development who never lost sight of rural poverty

Kosit, 73, passed away on June 1 following a battle with cancer. He was granted a royal cremation presided over by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on Sunday. 

General Prem Tisulanonda, 96, former prime minister and chairman of the Privy Council, was on hand to bid farewell to one of his lieutenants. 

Kosit ended his career as chairman of Bangkok Bank but he will be remembered for his work in economic development and poverty eradication.

When prime minister Prem appointed Snoh Unakul secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) in 1980, Kosit was made his right-hand man in implementing plans for poverty eradication and rural development. These two issues were Kosit’s lifelong passion.

Born in 1943, the young Kosit enrolled at St Gabriel’s College in a generation that produced many illustrious alumni. He went on to Chulalongkorn University and then the University of Maryland in the United States. 

It was there that Kosit discovered development economics. “I didn’t think [at the time] that [the study] would come to help shape my work later,” he recalled. Among his early influences was Ragnar Nurkse, a development economist from Estonia, whose work “Vicious Circle of Poverty” explains how in a low-income economy there are no savings and thus no investment.

After beginning his career with a stint at the World Bank, Kosit returned to Thailand and joined the NESDB on a monthly salary of Bt1,800. Back then, in 1965, Thailand’s average per capita income was US$120. 

 The core policy of the first National Plan in 1961 was to provide infrastructure to support private investment and to promote quality of life for citizens. In his unfinished memoir, Kosit wrote how his generation witnessed Thailand’s poverty incidence fall from 60 per cent to 13 per cent.  “Although Thailand hasn’t succeeded as lavishly as some other countries [in development], I think it has come a long way, and has an opportunity to develop at a steady pace, sustainably and for the happiness of the majority,” he wrote.

Thailand moved on as industrialisation took precedent. The Board of Investment was formed, export-led strategy was announced, and Japanese companies beganto bolster investment already flowing from Vietnam War-era ally America. In 1965, the agriculture sector’s productivity was low. Successive governments invested in irrigation. Forestland made way for crops. Rice production swelled and the rural sector was steadily transformed. Thailand’s GDP from 1961-1971 averaged 7.5 per cent.

In 1981, Kosit penned the book “Thai Economics: Poverty” to explain approaches in rural development. His view was that poverty in rural Thailand was complex and diverse and eluded the grasp of foreign theories. Rural folk lacked both the economic independence to become self-sufficient and the skills to improve their status. 

Kosit became deputy secretary-general of the NESDB in 1986. Had he then been appointed to the top job, Thailand’s development strategy might have turned out differently, but it wasn’t to be.  The much-admired Anand Panyarachun government of 1992 appointed him Agriculture Minister, the first of several ministerial appointments in successive years. 

In 1994, after rejecting a host of offers to join the private sector, Kosit accepted an invitation from Chatri Sophopanich to join Bangkok Bank.

Chatri praised Kosit as an all-rounder whose articulate and reasoning style was invaluable in efforts to supervise, manage and develop the vast organisation. Kosit was appointed chairman of the Bangkok Bank board in 1999.

His last government post was as Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister in the General Surayud administration of 2006-2008. 

At Bangkok Bank, he intensified his work on agriculture, OTOP, and SMEs, which he saw as crucial to Thailand’s future. 

Thailand has lost a cherished technocrat who manage to balance industrial development with a firm focus on the rural sector and SMEs. 

Kosit is survived by his wife and four sons.