The Asian financial crisis of 1997–98 began with the collapse of Thailand's baht in mid-1997 and spread rapidly across East and Southeast Asia, hitting Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and others. Sharp currency devaluations, capital flight and banking failures choked off the credit that had fuelled the region's property and construction booms. Megaprojects and speculative towers in Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur were halted, and many were left unfinished.
It laid bare the speculative, debt-fuelled property finance behind much of Asia's rapid urban growth, leaving empty towers and abandoned schemes and prompting reforms to banking and real-estate lending across the region.