It's easy to be pessimistic about Asia now the US is slowing. US growth and imports helped Asia rebound from the crisis in 1998. In 1999, Asian finance ministers proclaimed to the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington that exports had kick-started growth - Korea's economy grew by 7% in 1999, following a 5.8% decline in 1998; Thailand's grew by 4% after a 10% fall in 1998. Huge current account surpluses restored currency reserves to healthy levels, rebuilding sovereign creditworthiness despite the assumption of huge contingent liabilities from derelict banking systems.
February 01, 2001