Thailand’s crisis of 1997. What were the main causes of Thailand’s crisis of 1997? What lessons were
learned and what steps were eventually taken to normalize Thailand’s economy?
The basic cause was a period of large imports of goods (deficit on current account) financed by inflows of foreign
capital (surplus on financial account), including local borrowing in cheaper overseas markets. Maintenance of
exchange rates of the various southeast Asian currencies had been expected. The crisis was exacerbated by what
came to be called “crony capitalism” where many dealings were driven by friendships and relationships to
governing officials rather than by market factors.
Once the crisis was apparent, financial managers of MNEs should rationally stop expansion of local facilities
and try to repatriate cash balances in local currencies, if possible. This would cause the financial component of
the balance of payments to worsen for the countries involved. For companies manufacturing for local
consumption, a drop in local demand, possibly caused by an increase in costs if imported components were
needed, would lead to cut backs in production and resultant unemployment, making the crisis-caused depression
even worse.