The Thai economy has traditionally relied upon the export of agricultural products as its chief means of support, particularly rice. This dependence upon one product caused Thailand great variations in prosperity due to the change in world rice prices and fluctuations in harvest amounts. As a way of controlling this, the Thai government started some programs to help balance or stabilize rice harvests even during periods of drought or scant rainfall.
Many financial institutions in Thailand during 1997 were close to bankruptcy, although Thailand has been considered one of the most prosperous Asian countries, due to attaining bad debts during the successful years of the 1980s and early 1990s. The Thai currency, the baht, was losing a battle against the US dollar, while investors started losing their confidence in it.
Things escalated to the point that businesses started failing, which brought up the unemployment rate and it even started affecting other Southeast Asian nations' stock markets and currencies. Thai did receive help from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to help stabilize their economy and they were open to the changes suggested, such as budget cuts, higher taxes and closing down those financial institutions that weren't stable.