What crisis began in Thailand in 1997 and triggered major stock-market falls across East Asia?

The crisis that began in Thailand in 1997 and triggered major stock-market falls across East Asia was the Asian financial crisis.

Thailand’s government abandoned the baht’s peg to the U.S. dollar on 2 July 1997 after intense pressure on its currency reserves. The baht then lost substantial value, and investors reassessed other economies that had large foreign-currency debts, fixed exchange rates, or heavily leveraged financial systems.

The turmoil spread to Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Stock markets fell sharply, companies and banks struggled with dollar-denominated obligations, and several countries required international assistance. The International Monetary Fund arranged major support programs, especially for Thailand, Indonesia, and South Korea.

The crisis is sometimes called the Asian currency crisis, but its effects extended well beyond foreign-exchange markets. It involved banking failures, recessions, corporate defaults, and dramatic equity-market declines throughout the region.