Bank Indonesia and The Recent Crisis

This paper is a personal note describing the crisis as it unfolded while the writer was a key player in Indonesia's macroeconomic management. The crisis is seen as multi-faceted. It originated externally from a shock in the currency market that triggered a downward spiral from currency depreciation to fully-fledged crisis. The currency shock that hit the rupiah in July 1997 exposed in sequence the flaws embedded in the banking sector, the economic system, the social and the political system, flaws that had been obscured by long years of good economic performance. Through a complicated process of contagion and feedback effects—market disturbances, policy responses and market reactions—Indonesia deteriorated from a relatively well managed economy to the “worst case” among the Asian crisis economies. The paper discusses this process, the IMF's role, the bank closure issue, the currency board controversy and the author's dismissal as Governor of Bank Indonesia.     

东亚金融危机之后东亚新兴债券市场的发展

东亚金融危机之后,为防止危机的再次发生,东亚各经济体在不同层面积极地推进地区金融合作,其中一个重要方面就是大力发展东亚新兴债券市场,希望通过债券市场的发展达到三个目标:缓解货币错配的程度,改善东亚金融体系的脆弱性,促进金融一体化的发展。本文采用定量的方法对危机后东亚新兴债券市场的发展是否达到以上三个目标进行了评价,分析认为东亚新兴债券市场的发展取得了一定的成效,一定程度上实现了其预期的目标。     

Evolution of Poverty During the Crisis in Indonesia

The economic crisis caused a clear deterioration in the welfare of the Indonesian people. In this paper, we examine the appropriate method to compare the change in poverty rates over time. We then piece together a consistent series of estimates of poverty rates during the crisis from various sources, covering a period from February 1996 to February 2002. The reconciliation of these various estimates paints a very reasonable picture and neatly tracks events. The poverty rate increased from the lowest point of approximately 15% at the onset of the crisis in the middle of 1997 to the highest point of approximately 33% nearing the end of 1998. This maximum increase in poverty rate during the crisis of 18 percentage points implies that approximately 36 million additional people were pushed into absolute poverty due to the crisis. After the peak point, the poverty rate started to decline again and reached the pre-crisis level of approximately 15% at the end of 1999, implying that the lost time in poverty reduction due to the crisis was approximately 2.5years. However, the poverty rate after this point appears to have fluctuated. During 2001 and early 2002, poverty was on the rise again.     

The East Asian Crisis and International Capital Markets

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical evidence about international capital mobility. The authors find that its potential benefits depend on certain assumptions about market structures and institutions. Many of these conditions were absent in the economies worst affected by volatile capital movements. The main features of the recent East Asian financial crisis are described, and the principal distortions that led to the crisis. In some instances, these distortions were due to government policies; in others, they stemmed from market failures that had not been adequately addressed either by individual governments or by international financial institutions.     

亚洲金融危机的经验教训与中国宏观经济管理

亚洲金融危机爆发迄今已有十年.随着时间的推移,我们已经能够更好地理解那场危机的原因与影响并重新审视我们原本以为已经学到的经验以及汲取的教训.     

银行资本充足率监管对宏观经济的影响——基于亚洲地区的实证研究

<巴塞尔协议>资本充足率的规定已经成为发达国家或发展中国家银行系统资本监管的标准,提高银行资本充足率对于一国的宏观经济是否有负面的影响,(尤其是在经济低迷时期),这一问题在最近的十年中引起广泛的关注.本文借助于Peek和Rosengren的测算方法,通过计算和分析亚洲各国(地区)在经历金融危机后加强资本管制、提高资本充足率对该国宏观经济的影响时发现,这样的举措在经济低迷时期不但不会改善宏观经济状况,反而会恶化经济的发展.     

超越东亚模式:金融危机中的东亚与中国

东亚发展模式在这次由美国次贷危机引发的全球金融危机中暴露出严重的局限性,其依靠投入与出口拉动的经济增长模式形成了对美国市场、美元及美国金融的高度依赖,使得本次危机透过金融渠道、货币渠道以及商品渠道对东亚经济体造成前所未有的冲击。东亚国家与地区应以这次危机为契机,调整其传统的经济发展模式,即通过体制机制创新来建立以技术进步和效率提升为动力,内需主导与外需相结合的全面促进经济发展的新模式。同时,加强区域合作,形成亚洲区域内经济循环机制,以期有效缓解外部冲击。     

Operations of a Pension Fund after the Asian Crisis: The Thai Experience*

During and after the Asian crisis, institutional investors and pension funds in Asian financial markets have been confronted with a number of difficulties effecting their performance and the way they carry out their role within the national pension system. We analyze these problems by comparing the actual investment policy of an institutional investor with an optimal investment strategy derived from the insights of modern portfolio theory. We also analyze whether the organizational set‐up of a pension fund allows it to adequately perform its role within the pension system. As an example, we examine the operations of the Thai Government Pension Fund (GPF). We find that allowing international investments and reducing restrictions on equity investments while lowering the implicit requirements for investments in government debt would allow the GPF to further diversify its investment risk and to increase its risk‐adjusted return. We also show that some changes in the governance structure of the GPF would lower the occurrence of conflicts of interest for the management and increase the efficiency of the GPF operations.     

东亚金融危机成因的新反思

东亚国家和地区在经历了两年噩梦般的金融危机冲击后,终于在1999年下半年转入稳定复苏的轨道.关于这次危机成因的论述,国内外的文章难以数计,但绝大多数都是从金融层面来解释内因与外因.应当说这种角度的剖析抓住了促成危机的一些本质性问题,然而一些谜团却无法揭示,例如,为什么危机会沿着发展水平阶梯而逐级传递?为什么危机止于日本而没有扩散至欧美?为什么危机国家表现各异?为什么东盟国家受灾最重,"四小龙"次之,而日本最轻?此外,这次危机的教训除金融制度安排超越经济发展阶段外,在欠发达国家工业化战略选择上,有没有更深刻的借鉴意义?     

Asian Currency Crisis and the Generalized PPP: Evidence from the Far East

The present paper investigates the effects of the Asian currency crisis of 1997–1998 on the generalized PPP between several real exchange rates of the Far East countries. Monthly log of real exchange rates of the currencies of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Korea vis-à-vis the US dollar and the Japanese yen during 1990–2004 are applied in the investigation. Further tests are conducted between exchange rates vis-à-vis the Thai baht. Tests are conducted for periods before and after the crisis. Results from the Johansen method of multivariate cointegration show a substantial change in the relationship between these real exchange rates before and after the Asian currency crisis. This result is found using rates based on three currencies: US dollar, yen and baht.     

Risk Sensitivity of Bank Stocks in Malaysia: Empirical Evidence Across the Asian Financial Crisis

The present study examines the sensitivity of commercial banks' stock excess returns to their volatility and financial risk factors, measured by interest rates and exchange rates, across the recent Asian financial crisis. In general, we found that there were no significant differences among Malaysian commercial banks in their risk exposure prior to and during the Asian financial crisis. The introduction of selective capital controls, a fixed exchange rate regime and a forced banking consolidation program, however, had increased the risk exposure of both large and small domestic banks. The effects of these risk factors were significantly detected in both large and small banks.     

Will Bank Bailouts Bust Budgets? Fiscalisation of the East Asian financial crisis

East Asia has returned to a position of relative financial stability and modest economic growth seven years since the onset of the East Asian financial crisis, but the long-range impact of the crisis is still unclear, especially regarding fiscal ramifications. Thailand and Indonesia were two of the hardest hit economies and each had exemplary fiscal policies before the crisis. Since the crisis, both countries have maintained prudent fiscal policies, keeping budget deficits relatively small, managing debt burdens effectively and limiting exposure to contingent liabilities. Both countries have addressed the short-term triggers of the financial crisis admirably and continue to monitor vigilantly their external vulnerabilities. Thus, if either country experiences a fiscal crisis, it will be the result of other factors—bank bail-outs will bust budgets only if banks have to be bailed out once again due to incomplete or insufficient financial sector reform.     

全球金融危机下对深化东亚金融合作的新思考

从东亚金融合作的历程看,东亚金融合作是在东亚金融危机中诞生,又在应对全球金融危机中不断发展的。尽管东亚金融合作已经在一些领域取得了不少实质性的进展,但此次金融危机对金融全球化下东亚各国如何进一步推进区域金融合作提出了迫切要求。本文在分析东亚金融合作现状的基础上,着重对如何推动亚洲债券市场发展提出了具体建议。     

Microfinance in Times of Crisis: The Effects of Competition, Rising Indebtedness, and Economic Crisis on Repayment Behavior

This paper analyzes repayment determinants for loans from Caja Los Andes, a Bolivian microlender. The analysis focuses on the influence of recent changes in Bolivia. In particular, we examine the effects of the rapidly growing supply of microloans, the increasing competition, a rising level of indebtedness among microentrepreneurs, and the recent economic crisis. Our results show a twofold influence structure of competition and indebtedness. First, clients with loans from multiple sources at the same time are found to be more likely to default than others. Second, clients with given characteristics have an overall better repayment behavior in areas with higher competition and a higher supply of microloans.