If you felt that the maelstrom would also catch you, would you contribute US$1 billion to assist Thailand as part of the US$17 billion IMF aid package in August 1997? The fact that Malaysia did so without hesitation was an indication that the Malaysian authorities had little inkling that contagion from the Thai crisis would hit the country so badly and so quickly.

STRONG MACROECONOMIC FUNDAMENTALS

Malaysia is one of the richest countries in Southeast Asia, with a population of 27 million and 330,000 square kilometres in area, roughly the same size as Vietnam with one-third its population and eight times in terms of per capita GDP. Malaysia is rich with oil and gas resources and is one of the world's leading producers of palm oil and natural rubber. Malaysia is also one of the most open economies in the world, with a total trade to GDP of more than 200 percent, whilst foreign banks account for more than 20 percent of banking system assets. Foreign capital had helped build Malaysia into one of the leading exporters of electronic chips and products, accounting for half of exports.

Malaysia successfully overcame the recession of the mid-1980s at the same time as the country was embarking on a voluntary structural adjustment programme that shifted the primary engine of growth from the public to the private sector.