Asian economic prospects

Asian economic prospects

The economic crisis was only a minor glitch in the extraordinary development of East and Southeast Asia, if you go by the stock market indicators. Except in Japan these have already clawed back a good part of their 1997 losses. This is essentially due to exports, which have risen thanks to the exchange rate. Countries have been able to sell their products more cheaply and maintain their industrial capacity.

This situation -- as well as the restructuring and the partial cleanup of formerly corrupt institutions -- has encouraged foreign investors to return and to modernize the production infrastructure. What has saved these countries in fact has been our thirst for consumption.

So the crisis has not been useless. It has allowed the region to rid itself of some of its demons -- but not all. There is still a thirst for bribes.

And social problems have been met with rather imperfect solutions. Although in South Korea -- the most industrialized of these nations -- unemployment has gone down, in other developing countries such as Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia there has only been a marginal fall. Those with jobs have also seen a fall in their purchasing power.

-- Le Matin, Lausanne, Switzerland