The Thai baht was the currency devalued during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, helping trigger the crash.
Thailand abandoned its fixed exchange-rate system on July 2, 1997, allowing the baht to float after intense pressure on the country’s foreign-exchange reserves. The currency then lost substantial value. Investors reassessed other Asian economies with high foreign-currency debts, property bubbles, and banking weaknesses.
Contagion spread to Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Stock markets fell sharply, businesses struggled to repay dollar-denominated loans, and several governments sought assistance from the International Monetary Fund. The crisis also affected economies outside Asia through trade, capital flows, and investor risk aversion.
The baht is sometimes confused with the Indonesian rupiah or South Korean won because those currencies also suffered major declines. However, Thailand’s July 1997 decision is widely treated as the crisis’s starting point. The episode led many Asian governments to build larger foreign-exchange reserves and strengthen financial regulation.