1997 Asian Financial Crisis

The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis was a difficult time for many countries in Asia. It started when investors became worried about the economy in Thailand and pulled their money out of the country. This caused a big drop in the value of the Thai currency, the baht. When other countries in the region saw this happen, they worried that the same thing could happen to them. So they pulled their money out of their countries too, which caused other currencies to drop in value. This made it harder for countries in Asia to pay back the money they had borrowed, so they got into debt. This made it harder for people in the affected countries to get jobs and buy things, and their quality of life suffered.