Rising from the ashes of the Asian financial crisis

MUCH has been written on how Asian markets have changed since the Asian financial crisis 20 years ago. While some of this does not paint a positive picture, my experience is that over the past 20 years, financial markets in Asia have changed for the better and are well placed for future growth.

The crisis began in 1997, six years after I first arrived in Asia. What began as an attack on the Thai baht by currency speculators quickly spread into a financial crisis precipitated by a history of foreign debt financing domestic investments, creating a mismatch in currencies and maturities.

This created negative economic performance and the devaluing of markets and gross domestic product (GDP) to varying degrees in a range of different economies including Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.