Nearly 30 years after IMF rescue, Thailand faces new economic test
Thailand will host the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank next week. | REUTERS
Oct 9, 2026
BANGKOK – Ekniti Nitithanprapas was a young graduate student in the United States when Thailand devalued the baht in 1997, setting off the Asian financial crisis.
A loan from the International Monetary Fund and a raft of recovery measures helped Thailand find a way out of the economic morass.
Almost 30 years on, Bangkok will next week host the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank and Ekniti, now Thailand’s finance minister, is looking to steer the economy through a new challenge: how to escape years of sluggish growth.
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