Word: thailander
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...Asia's governments to ease the pain would be to finish cleaning up the mess left over from the 1997 debacle. In Thailand, many companies that ran into problems still haven't repaid their loans, leaving banks unwilling to lend to more viable firms. Korea has done more to reform its profligate ways but the government still props up sick companies with state funds, discouraging the kind of restructuring that would create more competitive businesses. Taiwan sailed through the crisis in 1997, but it is now reckoning with a Thai-style banking fiasco, albeit a less serious one. Taiwanese banks...
...them in. It's America. Asia's economies are fueled largely by companies making cars, consumer electronics and all manner of high-tech gewgaws and shipping them overseas. Exports account for more than 70% of Malaysia's and Singapore's GDPs, while the figure is around 50% in Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines. The problem is, about about half of those shipments go to the U.S., which is dealing with its own economic travails. American consumers and corporations just aren't buying like they used to, and so Asia's warehouses are overflowing with unsold goods...
...with what Arup Raha, chief economist at UBS Warburg in Hong Kong, calls a "double whammy" of depressed U.S. demand for all goods, and a particular slump in electronics, the cornerstone of Asia's new economy. Taiwan's exports plunged nearly 17% in the second quarter. Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines are not faring much better...
...period of many months. Already, Singapore's GDP is shrinking after it grew 9% last year. The jobless ranks in Taiwan are more swollen than they've ever been in history; not coincidentally, the suicide rate has seen a spike too. Unemployment rates are also rising in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. Companies everywhere say the carnage will only get worse in the months to come...
...governments in the region haven't shown much interest in taking on the harder reforms. As Korea's economy has faltered, President Kim Dae Jung has become more reluctant to let bad companies fail. In Thailand, Prime Minster Thaksin Shinawatra has been playing the victim card with claims that globalization and international banking standards are the causes of his country's woes. He has cut back on incentives for foreign investors and balked at forcing companies to repay their debts. Late last year, Taiwan's President Chen ordered banks to keep lines of credit open to delinquent debtors, a move...