, Columnist
Hong Kong Is Facing a Repeat of 1998 Asia Financial Crisis
China’s unwillingness to tackle its debt crisis is forcing rapid stock selloffs. People are worried.
More doom than boon.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A year ago, Hong Kong’s finance industry was hoping that a China reopening would unleash pent-up consumer demand and bring deals and prosperity to the city. There is no such illusion left.
As the Hang Seng Index selloff deepens, bankers and traders are preparing for the worst. This does not feel like 2008 when the Global Financial Crisis hit but 1998 — in the midst of the Asia Financial Crisis — a few people who have been around long enough lamented to me recently. The late 1990s crisis started with Thailand. But if another one erupts, China will be its root cause, and Hong Kong the epicenter.