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Impact of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 and Effect to Latin America

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Impact of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 and effect to Latin America
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Abstract
In 1997, the Asian Financial Crisis spread rapidly all over the Asia and affected almost all the economies in the world. Prior to the Asian Financial Crisis, the Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Singapore experienced a remarkable growth in the economy that was considered the highest in the world. These Asian economies increased by a notable proportion of 6 to 10 percent annually in the GDP. However, what had been regarded as an Asian miracle seemed to crumple down rapidly 1997 when these Asian countries were faced with a severe financial crisis in their local stock and currency markets. When the economies started recovering from the crisis in 1998, the stock markets in several countries had considerably lost more than 70 percent of their worth, while their currencies depreciated in comparison to the US dollar (Pettis, 2001). The Asian Financial Crisis also affected several nations in the Latin America as they experienced a relentless economic meltdown that had detrimental effects to the economies. For instance, the financial crisis force multinational firms to close down due to liquidation, the banking system deteriorated and this forced high levels of lay-offs leading to unemployment. In addition, the financial crisis resulted in the loss of the people’s purchasing power in the Latin American while nations turned to the International Monetary Fund for monetary assistance. This research paper explains the occurrence of the Asian Financial Crisis, the impact of the crisis and the effects it had on the Latin American countries’ economy.

Asian Financial Crisis in 1997
The Asian financial crisis took place in mid 1997 gripping several countries in Asia and this raised concerns with regards to a potential

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