Fast-forward to the late 1990s. Partially as a result of a booming interest in international investing, which was portrayed by some as a way to increase investors’ returns while lowering their risk, a lot of money poured into a number of developing nations’ markets. As in the US experience, much money chased real estate investments of dubious merit, local financial systems were unprepared for the changing economic and investment environments, government regulators were asleep or looking the other way, and favoritism and corruption (which is a more accepted form of commerce in some countries) were carried to new levels. The result ? Another financial crisis has blossomed. And it, too, was inevitable. Only its timing should have been a surprise.
Dec 1997