here is zero chance, aides insist, of accessing the second floor. The upper reaches of Bangkok’s Venetian Gothic Government House are strictly for official work. Journalists are only permitted to loiter among the watercolors and marble ornaments that adorn the ground-floor reception rooms. Everything above the grand staircase is strictly off-limits.
Srettha is straightforward about the stakes. Thailand is in an “economic crisis,” he says, one that must be tackled head-on. Already, he’s slashed fuel duties, announced a three-year debt moratorium for beleaguered farmers, and plans to roll out a digital-wallet scheme that will hand 10,000 baht to every Thai adult to stimulate consumption. He’s waived visas for visitors from China and India, with plans to extend to several other countries.
Few Thais saw Srettha’s political rise coming. Formerly the CEO of property developer Sansiri, he only joined Pheu Thai in 2022 and held no public office until he scored the top one. After earning his undergraduate degree in civil engineering at Bangkok’s prestigious Chulalongkorn University, he studied economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and then gained his M.B.A. at Claremont Graduate University. His nickname is Nid, which meansin Thai—a wry flick to that fact the 6 ft. 3 in.
Since then, getting the country moving has been his overriding focus. In addition to Prime Minister, Srettha also serves as Finance Minister, yet Thailand still hasn’t passed a national budget, post-election wrangling severely hamstringing his ability to enact meaningful change. The digital-wallet rollout has put him at loggerheads with the Bank of Thailand, which fears the $15 billion cash handout will spark inflation.
Bold reform plans like ending military conscription have since been shelved. The overwhelming impression across Thailand is that Srettha is merely a stooge for Thaksin and that same elite power nexus. “He’s a puppet,” says Chuwit Kamolvisit, an anti-corruption crusader. “Thaksin has the remote-control—right, left, Mr. Srettha has to go that way.”Srettha has made it abundantly clear where his focus is: foreign investment, trade, and trying to energize a moribund economy.
It’s ruthless pragmatism that he applies to foreign policy too. In October, Srettha met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing to solicit Chinese investment, especially for a $3 billion southern land-bridge project, which aims to link the Andaman Sea port of Ranong via road, rail, and gas pipeline to Chumphon on the Thai Gulf, some 60 miles away. Asked his impression of Xi, Srettha pauses. “As a world leader, there’s an aura about him,” he says eventually. “I think he wants to trade.