Are we about to witness a rerun of the Asian financial crisis?
Investors are becoming increasingly alarmed as buoyant economic activity and high interest rates in the US risk triggering renewed instability across Asia.
It’s not only investors who are rattled by the prospect of US interest rates remaining higher for longer. Central bankers – particularly those in Asia – are also on edge as the rampaging US dollar weighs on their currencies and risks triggering damaging capital outflows.
The Bank of Japan reportedly intervened in foreign currency markets to bolster the yen on Monday, after the Japanese currency plunged to about 160 yen per US dollar, its weakest level since 1990. Following the intervention, the yen rebounded and was trading about 156.3 to the US dollar.
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Jill Margo was a senior writer at The Australian Financial Review.
