1997		July 2: Thai currency, the baht, is allowed to float freely; this devalues the currency more than 10 percent. 18: The U.S. Treasury and the IMF grow concerned over a wave of selling in emerging markets that sends currencies and stocks plunging from Southeast Asia to Latin America and Eastern Europe. 20: International Monetary Fund grants Philippines $1 billion emergency loan, after currency plunges when central bank allows the peso to move in a wider range against the dollar. 22: An IMF official warns Thailand to bolster its troubled economy by cutting government spending and suggests the country should consider an IMF loan. 24: Currency meltdown sweeps Asia. Within days, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accuses American trader George Soros of causing the Malaysian ringgit's fall. Soros denies the charge. August 11: Thailand is pledged $16 billion in loans in rescue package led by the IMF and Japan. 14: Indonesia loosens control on the rupiah and the currency tumbles. 28: Asian stock markets plunge: Manila down 9.3 percent; Jakarta 4.5 percent. September 4: Philippine peso falls to record low against the dollar before central bank intervenes. 4: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad vows to combat "racist" foreign speculators with a $20 billion public fund to prop up the nation's sagging stock market. October 8: Indonesia considers asking IMF for an emergency bailout. 27: The Dow Jones industrial average plunges 7.2 percent. N.Y. Stock Exchange briefly suspends trading. 23 – 28: Hong Kong stock market loses nearly one-quarter of its value in four days on fears over interest rates and pressures on Hong Kong dollar; other Asian markets also plunge. November 3: Japanese brokerage firm Sanyo Securities files for bankruptcy. 8: South Korea's market falls 7 percent, the biggest one-day drop ever recorded there to date. 11: U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin urges Tokyo to shore up Japanese banking system. 16: Hokkaido Takushoku, Japan's 10th largest bank, folds due to bad loans. 20: South Korea begins talks with IMF for tens of billions in emergency aid. 24: Yamaichi Securities, one of Japan's largest brokerages, collapses; it had been reported in trouble since October. 24: South Korean stocks fall 7.2 percent on fears that the IMF may demand tough reforms. 25: Tokyo City Bank, a regional Japanese bank, closes. December 3: Seoul agrees on $55 billion international bailout package, IMF conditions. 5: Malaysia imposes tough reforms, including public spending cuts to reduce its balance of payments deficit. 17: Japan announces new reflationary measures, including cut in income tax. Stock market rallies, then weakens. 18: South Koreans elect opposition leader Kim Dae Jung as new president. IMF releases second tranche of Korean loan. 22: South Korea's currency plunges and its credit rating is lowered. 23: World Bank approves $3 billion emergency loan to South Korea. 25: IMF and lender nations move to finance $10 billion in loans to South Korea.
1998		January 12: Hong Kong-based investment bank Peregrine Investments Holdings Ltd. announces that it is filing for liquidation prompting a new plunge by Hong Kong's stock market. February 13: Indonesia's President Suharto tells President Clinton that the IMF is failing to stem his country's financial crisis and he plans new monetary regime. 16: Japan's parliament approves a $228 billion financial stabilization plan. 17: President Suharto fires independent-minded governor of Indonesia's central bank. 19: The Commerce Department says 1997 U.S. trade deficit was $113.75 billion. Economists say the turmoil in Asia will make it even worse this year. 28: China unveils plans to float a $32.5 billion domestic bond issue in an effort to recapitalize its ailing banks. April 01: Japan officially unveils its "Big Bang" – a program to deregulate its strictly controlled financial markets by 2001. 28: Japanese unemployment reaches a record 3.9 percent. May 21: Indonesia's President Suharto steps down after 32 years in power. He names Vice President B.J. Habibie as his successor. 27: Financial markets in Asia and elsewhere plunge as investors worry over the worsening crisis. Hong Kong's main index falls 5.3 percent; Indonesia's falls 3.9 percent. June 11: The Japanese yen falls to an eight-year low against the U.S. dollar, driving down the prices of stocks and currencies around the world. 15: Stock markets plummet in the United States and around the world as Asia's economic troubles deepen. 22: Hong Kong's leaders announce the territory is heading into a recession, and they unveil a stimulus package aimed at reviving the economy. July 30: Keizo Obuchi is officially voted Japan's new prime minister by parliament. He swiftly names former premier Kiichi Miyazawa as finance minister. August 11: Deepening gloom about the Japanese economy sends the yen tumbling to another eight-year low, and stock markets plunge around the world – including in the United States – in a dramatic display of "financial contagion." 27: Traders concerned about financial disarray in Russia send stock markets from Japan to Russia to the United States plummeting again. The Dow Jones industrial average drops more than 350 points. September 2: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad fires his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, one day after imposing strict new currency controls and other measures that contradict Anwar's traditional free-market remedies for the country's ailing economy. 27: Japan Leasing Corp., a major Japanese leasing company files for bankruptcy protection. The company says its debts total $16 billion, making it the largest bankruptcy filing since World War II. November 05: Japan's already-low interest rates fall below zero on certain types of borrowing.
1999		January 11: One of China's most prominent government-backed financial institutions, the Guangdong International Trust and Investment Corp., announces it will file for bankruptcy.