It signals a winding down of the pump-priming policy brought in to maintain high economic growth in the wake of the Asian financial crisis of 1997.

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His retirement did not last long and he was elected president in 1997, at the height of the Asian economic crisis.

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In my neighbourhood of Asia, the financial crisis of 1997-1998 brought tremendous pain to many Asian countries, but through austerity and sweeping economic reforms, they recovered relatively quickly and in much better shape.

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