The 1997 event when Thailand’s baht devaluation helped trigger an Asian financial and stock-market crisis was the Asian financial crisis.
Thailand abandoned its fixed exchange-rate system on July 2, 1997, allowing the baht to float and fall sharply. Investors then reassessed other Asian economies, many of which had heavy foreign-currency debt, weak financial supervision, or property and stock-market bubbles. Capital outflows put pressure on currencies, banks, and equity markets across the region.
The crisis spread to Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, and other economies. The International Monetary Fund arranged major assistance programs, especially for Thailand, Indonesia, and South Korea, generally alongside financial and structural conditions.
The crisis is sometimes reduced to a currency event, but it also caused severe stock-market declines and corporate failures. Russia’s 1998 crisis and Brazil’s later exchange-rate problems were connected to the wider period of emerging-market stress, yet they are not the same as the original Asian financial crisis.