During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Thailand’s baht was the currency first forced to float and then sharply devalued.
On July 2, 1997, Thailand abandoned its long-standing effort to maintain the baht’s value against the U.S. dollar. The decision followed intense speculative pressure and a rapid depletion of Thailand’s foreign-exchange reserves. The baht’s fall became the immediate trigger for a wider regional crisis.
Financial stress soon spread to Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and other economies. Stock markets fell, companies with heavy foreign-currency debts faced severe problems, and several countries sought assistance from the International Monetary Fund. The Indonesian rupiah and South Korean won were among the currencies hit later, which is why they are sometimes mistakenly identified as the crisis’s starting currency.