This Imitation Currency Crisis Needs Work
Currencies are down and inflation is up. Just don’t look for a replay of the 1990s.
A knock-off crisis.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/BloombergWhere have Asia's rebels gone? It’s striking how conventional the region's response has been to the spike in inflation and worrisome slides in currencies. Unlike a generation ago, today’s challenges haven’t forced a retreat from the orthodox. The radical center is holding.
Whenever Asia is under financial duress, it’s tempting to reach for comparisons with the collapse of the late 1990s. Circumstances are far from great: Thailand Post Co. in July raised letter delivery prices for the first time in almost two decades, high energy costs spurred protests in Indonesia and South Korea’s currency reserves shrank sharply last month. Trying times, but far from resembling the calamity that descended in July 1997.