Abstract
During the thirty years that preceded the financial crisis in Asia, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, there were some remarkable economic performances in terms of fast growth, weak inflation, macroeconomic stability and solid public finances, high savings, opened economy and rich exports. During that time, the economic crisis wasn't easy to forecast. It is now naturally much easier to identify the causes whereas the policy lessons are still discussed eleven years after. These countries were victims of their own success. From the launch of their robust economic performances till the beginning of the 1990s, Asian countries refused to see the problems when they first came. It was impossible to imagine a crisis like the one that had shaken Latin America in the 1980s, because they were neither confronted with heavy budget deficits, nor with the burden of a national debt.
