This time has been different. After the 1997-1998 crisis, Asian central banks locked in big currency depreciations to aid their recoveries, and then fought their currencies’ subsequent rise. But since the 2008-2009 crisis, every Asian currency has been allowed to appreciate materially – with one notable exception. Against the US dollar the Korean won is about 15 per cent weaker today than it was in July 2007. That looks reasonable when set alongside the terminally-unloved Vietnamese dong (-22 per cent) or Pakistani rupee (-29 per cent), but much less so when compared with the Indonesian rupiah (+4 per cent), the Thai baht or the Malaysian ringgit (both +15 per cent).
這一次，情況不同了。1997－1998年的亞洲金融危機後，亞洲各國央行都奉行本幣大幅貶值的政策，以推動本國經濟的復甦，對於隨之而來的本幣升值，又加以抑制。但從2008－2009年的危機至今，幾乎所有亞洲貨幣都被允許大幅升值——只有一個明顯的例外。目前，韓元兌美元匯率較2007年7月份下跌約15%。和極不受歡迎的越南盾（對美元貶值22%）、巴基斯坦盧比（貶值29%）放在一塊看，這樣的跌幅好像還說得過去，但與印尼盾（對美元升值4%）、泰銖和馬來西亞林吉特（均升值15%）比起來，就顯得奇怪了。