Word: thailand
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...conventional wisdom is that the economic anxiety now gripping much of the world has its roots in the collapse of Thailand's currency, the baht, in July 1997, after investors discovered that Thailand's economic boom was built on a base as solid as a bowl of pad Thai noodles. But the roots actually reach back further, to Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones industrial average shed 22.6% of its value in a single day. The market, of course, rebounded--and how. But at the time, professional investors thought U.S. stocks were due for a decade...
...warp-speed growth in many of these nations began to slow--an inevitable turn in the business cycle. But the stutter was enough to panic a few investors, who headed for the exits. That set off a rapid spiral of defaults that became known as the Asian Contagion. Thailand's problems quickly became Indonesia's, then Korea's, in a dangerous daisy chain that is still looping together--witness last month's shuddering devaluation of the Brazilian real...
...nation that is dealing with its economic crisis by withdrawing from the global economy and sealing off its currency from outside trade is (a) Thailand (b) Malaysia (c) Russia (d) Japan...
General Motors is also sticking its corporate toes back in the water. Last year the automaker had to halt construction of a plant in Thailand that was to produce a sort of upmarket Opel, mostly for export to other Asian countries. "Frankly, the market disappeared for that car," says chairman John Smith. But now GM is reviving--though also downsizing--its plans. Instead of 100,000 midsize cars a year, it intends to produce 40,000 seven-seat multipurpose vans annually. GM has also concluded what Smith calls "a strategic agreement" with Japan's Suzuki to "work together...
...crash has left Asian countries, companies and banks with manufacturing overcapacity and huge debts, which have to be reduced. That, says Hormats, "means more bankruptcies, more unemployment and continued recession for most of 1999" as the excesses are written off. But the free fall is over: Thailand and South Korea, in his view, might begin to grow a bit by the end of 1999, while Japan will improve--though only from negative to zero growth. General recovery region-wide will not begin until...