Global markets: South-east Asia's currencies are plunging like its 1998

UK Only Article: 
standard article

Fly Title: 

Global markets

Rubric: 

The rupiah and ringgit plumb depths unseen since the Asian financial crisis

Byline: 

J.F.

Location: 

SINGAPORE

Main image: 

20150815_woc434.png

This article was originally published in last week's print edition. However, since Tuesday, many south-east Asia currencies, as well as China's, have fallen sharply in value (see chart). Since this article is so relevant to the events of the past week, we decided to republish it on the blog:
NOT since Bill Clinton was president and Barack Obama was a law professor with a sideline in local politics have the beaches of Bali and Langkawi looked so inviting to Americans. Four years ago, a dollar fetched just over 8,500 Indonesian rupiah, and just under three Malaysian ringgit. Today a dollar is worth nearly 14,000 rupiah and almost four ringgit. Both currencies hit 17-year lows this summer, and kept falling (see chart).

In …
Source: The Economy