Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Akniti Nitithanprapas expressed gratitude to his team and the Prime Minister for the opportunity to serve. He explained in detail that although the timeline was four months, actual working time was just two months, during which nearly all Quick Big Win measures were implemented.
On 15 Dec, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Akniti Nitithanprapas revealed via Facebook that transitioning from a permanent civil servant executor to a policy maker in his new roles meant not only job changes but also losing personal time, as everything moved rapidly. He worked against a four-month deadline to deliver five key pillars plus one foundational measure called "Quick Big Win" aimed at short-term stimulus with long-term, widespread effects. Ultimately, he had about two months of actual working time to nearly complete the planned measures. Today, he wishes to share his valuable experience as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister during this period.
1. Designing the Quick Big Win policy
The term Quick Big Win is not new to those who have worked with him at the Ministry of Finance; it has been used to drive change within agencies. Faced with a four-month timeframe to achieve tangible results, he applied this concept to design economic policies alongside other economic ministers to ensure unified direction.
Policies must be practical, tangible, and produce concrete results. As head of the economic team, he considered all dimensions—overall economy, society, business, industry, finance, capital markets, and fiscal matters—with the most important being the people. It is impossible to please everyone, so decisions are based on maximizing national benefit. Thus, designed policies must be feasible, address both short- and long-term issues, show clear results, and consider limited resources and fiscal discipline. For example, the "Half-Half Plus" (pillar 1) focuses on short-term economic stimulus while upskilling vendors for longer-term, nationwide benefits.
2. The core of driving every key pillar’s policy is integration (Agile) between the public and private sectors
People often misunderstand that integration happens only during implementation. In fact, effective policies require integration starting from the design stage.
Designing policies to tackle household debt (pillar 2), SME liquidity contraction (pillar 3), and promoting savings to address an aging society (pillar 4) involved many public and private agencies—from various departments within the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Thailand, NCB, Thai Bankers' Association, State Bank Association, Federation of Thai Industries, the Chamber of Commerce, to the SEC and SET. Exchanging views and data openly from the start about proposals and obstacles enabled policy integration, which led to operational integration within agencies to achieve desired outcomes.
3. Policy design cannot succeed without listening to the real problems of the customers—in this case, entrepreneurs.
For pillar 5, investment for the future, feedback was gathered from investors holding BOI promotion certificates about their challenges, leading to the Thailand Fast Pass project. This project unlocks regulations to expedite large-scale investments and addresses skilled labor shortages by partnering with businesses to develop market-aligned training courses.
4. All economic policy design and implementation must be based on fiscal discipline by adjusting the medium-term fiscal plan to reduce the government deficit and demonstrate commitment to fiscal responsibility. This includes repaying BAAC debt and issuing Section 28 regulations to more strictly control quasi-fiscal policy use with greater prudence.
5. For policies to achieve maximum effectiveness, it is not enough to be feasible and solve short- and long-term problems; time and continuity are also critical to ensure all measures yield tangible results.
However, he alone could not efficiently drive everything in the limited time without support and cooperation from executives and civil servants in the Ministry of Finance, the Budget Bureau, NESDC, BOI, Ministry of Commerce, as well as senior leaders in both public and private sectors—from the Bank of Thailand, SEC, SET, State Bank Association, NESDC, NCB, and other agencies that may not be fully mentioned.
Finally, he thanked both front-line and behind-the-scenes teams—from assistants, secretaries, formal and informal advisors, to the Deputy Prime Minister’s and Finance Minister’s office staff—who tirelessly worked to implement policies without pause. He praised everyone’s excellence and sincerely thanked all. Lastly, he expressed deep gratitude to the Prime Minister for recognizing his sincerity and dedication and for the opportunity to help manage the country's economy during this crucial transition.