ABSTRACT
Thailand's crisis was the collapse of a boom. Over the decade ending in 1996 the Thai economy was the fastest growing in the world, with annual growth of real GDP averaging almost 10 per cent. Although growth at these stellar rates was new for Thailand, sustained economic growth had been the norm throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Growth of Thailand's real per capita GDP was positive in every single year from 1958 to 1996 (Figure 13.1), a unique achievement among developing countries. By the mid 1990s, Thailand's performance was being described as an example others might emulate and its principal economic institutions, particularly its central bank, the Bank of Thailand, were cited as examples of competent and stable management.
