We all in Asia know how bad the Asian financial crisis was. The biggest problem was Asia's dependence on foreign investments or foreign funding, and when that exited, the economies had no legs to stand on. There is a similar new Asian financial crisis but this time its in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE). The only difference is they are in a much bigger pot of doo-doo than us now, hence the dire consequences they are facing now and will be facing for the next couple of years at least will be a lot worse than what Asia went through.
The ones in the biggest trouble are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Hungary and Romania are not far behind, but will see bigger aftershocks because their economies are larger. Bulgaria's problems are different as it has more to do with their current account deficit.
While Asia has bulked up their foreign reserves, Asia has gone back to exports to revive growth over the last 5 years. Asia is now hit because of the slackening demand for exports. Either way, you get hit, be it dependence on foreign funding or relying on exports for growth - but I rather be reliant for exports and get whacked in a global downturn than to be dependent on foreign funds inflow as the latter is usually short term in nature and does not build up the economies structurally (unlike long term foreign investments).
p/s photos: Kathy Chow Hoi Mei
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