Then, beginning in 1993, the country's economic situation began to deteriorate. Earlier this year, sensing trouble ahead, investors began fleeing Thai stocks and the baht. The Thai government spent billions of dollars in the markets attempting to fend off the attacks, to no avail. On July 2, Thailand freed the baht from a dollar-linked trading band and introduced a managed float. Since July, the baht has lost 30 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar.
Bank lending is at a minimum, and features exorbitant interest rates when it does occur.
The real estate market has collapsed and unemployment is on the rise. After a decade of economic expansion that averaged nine percent growth per year, it is possible that the Thai economy may not grow at all in 1997, or even next year. All of this macroeconomic fodder promises to make for a scintillating debate this Friday. While Rose and Lyons have certainly jousted in the confines of the faculty wing about topics such as the true value of Canadian contributions to the economic canon, this will be the first ever public debate between the two. But when they learn about the lies, disgust will follow.