Thailand's top business leaders are ready to help the government ease the crunch of the coronavirus crisis, and plan to offer their ideas to lift the country out of the economic quagmire.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha sent an open letter to ask the business leaders how they have helped their employees, insisting the government was not trying to borrow money from them.
"I want to thank all the 20 business leaders. I only wrote to ask if they will do anything in addition to the government's measures so we can work together in sync," Prayut said.
Suphachai Chearavanont, chief executive of Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, said the prime minister's letter was a smart idea.
"Each of the businesses is like one ministry. They are from the real sector and they are running their own micro economy. If they work under the government, the prime minister will automatically have twenty more ministries working for the administration," Mr Suphachai said
CP is one of the prime minister's targets as the Chearavanont brothers retained the No.1 spot with a net worth of US$27.3 billion, or about 888 billion baht, in Forbes' Thailand's 50 Richest 2020.
Harald Link, chairman of B.Grimm who ranks 12th with $2.3 billion, said he received the letter from the prime minister who asked for a response this week, and that he will do so.
Dr Prasert Prasattong-Osoth, co-founder of Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, said he planned to spend 100 million baht helping local officials in Sukhothai create ponds, waterways and wells, to help people fight drought after the Covid-19 pandemic ends.
