The financial crisis in Thailand: Causes, conduct and consequences?

An examination of Thai practitioners’ perceptions of risk assessment techniques in real estate development projects

“…Lauridsen (1998) and Quigley (2001) indicate that the key reasons for this crisis were the fi nancial institutions and real estate developers who lacked monetary discipline and neglected risks in real estate business, as well as lack of practical risk assessment and management techniques to resolve the consequences of risks. Vanichvatana (2007) and Kritayanavaj (2007) predict that the future trend of the Thai real estate sector will be similar to the circumstances in the 1997 crisis, as practical risk assessment techniques are yet to be developed.…”

“…The main factor responsible for economic crises is often traced to the behaviour of players in the real estate sector with regard to risks. It is argued that they did not pay enough attention to the impact of risks on their businesses because they lacked the appropriate techniques that could be used to assess risks and deal with their impact ( Lauridsen, 1998 ;Quigley, 2001 ). In recent years, the current global economic recession has also had signifi cant effects on the entire Thai business sector.…”

Learning from a rival bank and lending boom

“…Ongena, Smith, and Michalsen (2003) report rapid lending growth after the branching deregulation for foreign banks before the Norwegian banking crisis. Lauridsen (1998) also reports a similar phenomenon in Thailand in the 1990s.…”

Unveiling the behaviour of policy reaction function in Thailand: A pre and post crisis investigation

“…Continuously the outstanding external debt rose from 28.8 billion US dollars (33.8% of GDP) in 1990 to 94.3 billion US dollars (50.9% of GDP) at the end of 1996. This slow-down the economy of Thailand with lower growth rate and also increased the current account deficit which co-exist with the lost in stock exchange market (Lauridsen, 1998). This dilemma vigorously forced most investors to sell the Thai baht which later depreciated from 25 baht/US dollar to 55 baht/US dollar by early January 1998.…”