Strong nerves and creative strategies have characterised the best-performing finance ministers over the past 12 months. Here The Banker recognises those whose will and skill have proved outstanding at tackling the immediate effects of the slump while positioning their countries for future growth.

Korn Chatikavanij, Finance minister of Thailand

Finance Minister of the Year, Global and Asia-Pacific

Korn Chatikavanij, Thailand

A former JPMorgan banker, Korn Chatikavanij, Thailand's recently appointed finance minister, only entered the political fray in 2005, ascending to the role of Thailand's finance minister in December 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis.

Against a backdrop of ongoing domestic political upheaval, Mr Chatikavanij has safely steered the Thai economy through the worst of the global financial crisis by rolling out a range of vigorous fiscal stimulus measures, amounting to more than $61.2bn, as well as boosting long-term government spending on infrastructure projects.

Despite its robust fiscal response to the crisis, however, Mr Chatikavanij's ministry has succeeded in containing the budget deficit at a forecast 4.6% for 2009, with a projected rapid decline in the deficit starting in 2011. While gross domestic product for 2009 has contracted by about 3.5%, it is due to bounce back, reaching a solid 3.7% growth for 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Although Thailand has enjoyed a speedy return to full health, Mr Chatikavanij remains committed to diversifying the country's economic base. During the past year he has unveiled far-reaching plans to reduce exports as a share of GDP by boosting domestic consumption and increasing funding possibilities for businesses by allowing more foreign ownership of banks, as well as undertaking major domestic capital market reform. Despite his short tenure in office, Mr Chatikavanij has introduced an active and extensive reform programme that has succeeded in putting Thailand's economic policy back on track after several years of economic paralysis and frequent government changes.

But his achievements are not confined to Thailand. A strong believer that south-east Asian nations must work harder to jointly publicise, integrate and market their products and services, Mr Chatikavanij has become a leading spokesperson for south-east Asia as whole, promoting openness and modernisation among the major south-east Asian economies. In a strategic move to capitalise upon the region's growing economic power, Mr Chatikavanij has led efforts to forge greater co-operation among Asian nations, in particular the economies of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Among his major achievements in this regard stands the ASEAN electronic trading link-up, unveiled in February 2009, which aims to create a single point of access through which local and foreign investors can trade listed south-east Asian securities cross-border, thereby establishing ASEAN markets as an asset-class. Due to go live in 2010, the initiative serves as a critical foundation for the increased integration of ASEAN capital markets. As such, Mr Chatikavanij has pioneered a vision of south-east Asia as a single economic community that may, in due course, become a major global trading block.

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