ABSTRACT
The separation of the state budget from that of the crown in 1890 gave rise to the Private Property Bureau (PPB), which was allocated 15% of government income. As modernisation generated increasing tax revenues, the PPB gradually built up a patrimony. The management of the Crown Property Bureau (CPB) quickly became chaotic; partly due to King Prajadhipok transferring part of the Crown’s foreign assets to his name, which led to a 1939 lawsuit by the government in response to the recurring criticisms he made of its management; but also due to misappropriations (cheap purchase of CPB land; financing of private companies by the CPB, etc.) by Siamese military personnel close to the new government. After a significant deceleration in 1985, the CPB recorded a decade of strong growth, but at the price of a significant debt overhang, like that of the entire Thai private sector, whose debt (domestic plus external) represented 1.7 times GDP on the eve of financial crisis.
