thailand built up large private short term external debt while high private credit growth fueled the bubble in the stock and property markets. once the crisis hit, these countries faced sharp capital reversal of up to 10 % and 12. 5 % 1 of gdp in 1998 for korea and thailand respectively and a massive devaluation of the currency soon followed. some of us were forced to seek international assistance ( imf ) or, in the case of malaysia2, to undertake rigorous self - reform and an eventual unorthodox measure on exchange and capital flows. notwithstanding the different approaches, these steps were all painful yet critical for economic recovery. by 1998, the current account balance of the four countries became positive, helping to improve the national account and restore consumer confidence. gdp growth subsequently returned to positive territory by the second quarter of 1999. two differences stand out between asia and europe. the first is policy flexibility. the devaluation of the exchange rate helped restore export competitiveness of the asian economies. however, this freedom of flexibility might not be practical for europe given its single currency setting and political complexities. the second is the supportive global economy, which provided the necessary market for asia and allowed asia to export our way out of the crisis. global gdp registered a 4. 7 % growth in 2000 with advanced economies, the world ’ s largest consumer, growing at 4. 1 %. in contrast, the global setting of the current european sovereign debt crisis is not bot ’ s staff computation from ceic data. malaysia ’ s policy mix started out with an initial fiscal and monetary tightening, a conventional imf - like measure, followed by a reversed loosening of macroeconomic policies. the insufficiency of these policies to restore confidence led the country to resort to exchange and capital control which yielded positive result. bis central bankers ’ speeches as favorable. global and advanced economies growth turned to a negative territory of 0. 6 % and 3. 4 % respectively in 2009. emerging and developing economies, increasingly feeling the pinch of the global slowdown, witnessed the continued slowdown of their gdp growth from 8. 7 % in 2007 to just 2. 8 % in 2009. i believe that there may be other success factors for the european story. but, we have to bear in mind that some of the success factors are not without costs that remain to be addressed. in the case of asia, the sharp devaluation and swift recovery in exports led the asian economies to become addicted to large volume of export at low

benoit cœure : interview in ebra newspaper group interview with mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, in ebra newspaper group, ( l ’ alsace, les dernieres nouvelles d ’ alsace, le republicain lorrain, l ’ est republicain, vosges matin, le bien public, le journal de saoneet - loire, le progres, le dauphine libere and vaucluse matin ), conducted by mr francis brochet and published on 11 september 2015. * * * can we have confidence in the growth in the euro area? yes. growth has returned and the unemployment rate is falling in the euro area. we can trust in the euro to protect us in an international environment where major emerging economies are experiencing a slowdown and financial markets are very volatile. the european central bank is protecting growth by clearly stating that its policy of very low interest rates and its asset purchases will continue for as long as necessary. but growth is still not strong enough to create a sufficient number of jobs. many people see the euro area as more of a straitjacket than a form of protection … sharing a currency is like living under the same roof – there must be common rules. these rules, for example regarding deficit and debt reduction, do act as constraints, but they also establish collective trust, making it possible to have very low interest rates and stable prices. if a country were to free itself from these rules, it would be completely unprotected and find itself alone in the face of the volatility of global markets. but joseph stiglitz, winner of the nobel prize for economics, recently said in this publication that the rules are too strict and that austerity kills growth … in economics, as in politics, it ’ s all a matter of degree. today, the euro area as a whole has a balanced approach to fiscal policy, and fiscal adjustment, which was necessary, is no longer hampering growth. as for france, there is still some way to go. greece is still in the process of adjusting. are you concerned about the result of the elections on 20 september? there is a fairly broad consensus among the governing parties and, i believe, the greek people that it is in the country ’ s interests to remain in the euro area, and that this requires adjustment efforts. that is the rationale of the programme adopted in august. wasn ’ t the