Certainly, the recent financial turmoil has spread to stock markets and currencies around the world. The last bout of financial turbulence was centred in Mexico in 1994-95. It demonstrated that financial markets are eventually able to shrug off such episodes.
History is about to repeat itself in Southeast Asia.
In both countries, several commercial banks will close and financial supervision will be tightened. Many will agree such reforms are overdue. Three million people may be unemployed as a direct result. At the root of the periodic financial instability that is becoming a regular feature of the global economy is a deliberate push by the Group of Seven industrialized countries to liberalize financial markets. That is, policy makers in the rich countries have decided open financial markets are like free trade in goods and services, bringing economic growth and prosperity to all involved.