Introduction

The Asian financial crisis of 1997 was arguably the worst global economic disaster since the Great Depression of 1929. With billions of dollars lost, millions unemployed, several heads of state deposed and global financial instability, this paper seeks to examine how the Asian Tiger regions grew so spectacularly within the 1990s yet failed so dismally from 1997 onwards. Could the crisis have been averted or marginalised through more effective planning and improved international aid or were these economies doomed to fail from the beginning? This paper focuses upon both economic indicators and objective analysis to explain the underlying rationale behind the crisis, how it spread, and an analysis of how the main participants of the crisis have recovered from 1997 onwards.

 Furthermore, this paper questions the role and validity of the IMF as the major economic body sought to deal with the matter and the financial and policy implications of their involvement within the crisis.