What was the nickname of the 1997 Asian financial crisis’s first major stock-market crash in Thailand?

The 1997 Asian financial crisis is known in Thailand as the Tom Yum Kung crisis.

The name refers to tom yum kung, a spicy Thai shrimp soup, and became a vivid national label for the economic shock. Thailand’s crisis intensified after the baht was floated on July 2, 1997, ending its long-standing exchange-rate peg to the U.S. dollar. The baht then lost substantial value.

The turmoil spread across several Asian economies, including Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Stock markets fell, companies struggled with foreign-currency debt, and financial institutions faced insolvency. International Monetary Fund assistance became central to several rescue programs.

The crisis was not simply a stock-market event. Weak financial supervision, property-market speculation, large short-term foreign debts, and fixed exchange rates all contributed. The nickname is specifically associated with Thailand; other countries used different descriptions for their own parts of the regional crisis.